A Baker's Dozen
by ShearViscosity
Summary: Banished from his lands, stripped of his title, and kicked out with only the clothes on his back, Hans has to make his own in the world. Things start looking up when he travels to a foreign land called Corona where a baker's daughter offers him some bread, a job, and perhaps something more. Thirteen chapters, starting with his actions in Frozen and ending with his redemption.
1. The Thirteenth Son

I do not own the rights to Disney. Contains spoilers for Frozen.

**A Baker's Dozen**

**The Thirteenth Son**

Hans life wasn't a fairy tale.

Far from it in fact. He was the thirteenth in line for the throne. A prince by birth, but nowhere close enough to gain the throne as a king. His brothers knew that, and lorded it over him his whole life. They also pointed out that the only reason he was ever born was because his mother was so desperate for a girl, her little Hanna. Instead, after giving birth to twelve sons, she got Hans. Named for the daughter his mother always wanted and never got because she died giving birth to him- something else his brothers rubbed in his considering she had given birth to two sets of twins just fine. King Cobus mourned his Queen Anika and never remarried, letting his sons- Crown Prince Hendrik, Prince Alwin, Prince Bas, the older twins Princes Elbert and Egbert, Prince Ferdi, Prince Klaas, Prince Marten, Prince Gerard, Prince Otto, and the younger twins Prince Rupert and Wilbert- raise their baby brother, Prince Hans.

Hans never knew his mother, he only knew twelve brothers who loved teasing him and pranking him. His father was always too busy attending to the kingdom to pay attention to his youngest. While his older brothers- Hendrik, Alwin, and Bas married when he was rather young, they were too busy having their own families to pay attention to him. Ferdi was always kind to him, but he eventually found a beautiful princess with a kingdom of her own and left the Southern Isles. Klaas and Marten were diplomats to other kingdoms so they were seldom home, and Gerard was a general in the army. Otto, Rupert, and Wilbert, the closest in age to him, ignored him for two years.

For having such a big family, he had grown up just as isolated and lonely as Anna.

Princess Anna of Arendelle, who had fallen for him so easily for she so desperately wanted to be loved. He wanted it as well. Sure she wasn't the Snow White Ferdinand had married, she was a bit of klutz, and nowhere as poised as her sister, but she didn't care that he was a thirteenth son. She was in love with him, and her way out of the lonely world she lived in.

And she was his. He had volunteered to go to Arendelle for Elsa's coronation on behalf of the Southern Isles. A single queen, who had grown up isolated from the outside world? She was Hans' dream, his way to the throne that was always out of his reach. Except she had to turn out to be a bit of an ice queen, and that was before her powers were revealed. Only smiling politely, turning down dances the entire night, refusing to discuss potential marriages with other kingdoms. Anna was the opposite. Outgoing, friendly, and more than happy to be his wife.

The only problem was that she was second in line to the throne. Second was still better than thirteenth though. One accident, and nobody would think anything of it. But twelve (more like thirty with all the nieces and nephews he now had) and Hans would definitely be under suspicion.

Everything had seemed perfect, and Elsa's accident was just a minor hiccup in his plan. Except, the minor hiccup had turned into something major. Elsa refused to bless their marriage. Elsa had magic and unleashed a powerful winter on the land, and Anna just had to go after her sister.

That was fine with Hans though, he had been left in charge on the kingdom. Knowing that all eyes would be on him since he was engaged to Anna, he knew that he couldn't let the power go to his head. He had to be kind, thoughtful, and generous to win the people over, and it worked, he had them practically at his feet. The Duke of Weselton even unintentionally set himself up as the perfect foil to Hans' generous and caring self.

Truthfully, he hadn't expected Anna to last long in the storm before giving up and returning to the kingdom. He would at least let her feel like she was in charge before he sent men to go after Anna's sister. But then his horse had shown up, frightened, and no sign of Anna.

It was in that moment he realized he didn't love Anna. He was more scared of losing his throne than his fiancee. It was the closest he had ever been to being a king and it was going to slip through his fingers due to an ice queen and a flighty princess. Hans wanted to love Anna as much as she loved him, and wanted the fairytale ending of happily ever after his parents allegedly had. He really did want it. The problem was, he knew in his heart that he loved Anna's throne more than he loved her.

He kept it to himself though, there was no need to tell Anna- if she was still alive. Which was why he was intent on bringing Elsa back alive. Not just to end the winter, but to marry her if Anna was dead. Convincing her would be an issue, but perhaps if he helped her when she was most vulnerable and felt guilt over him losing Anna, she'd be open to marrying him. Not for love though like Anna, but guilt, which he was fine with. If anything it would lessen his own guilt over realizing he didn't love Anna.

As it turned out, Anna was as good as dead. Elsa had hit her in the heart with her magic. Only true love's kiss could break the curse and prevent Anna from freezing to death. Hans was well familiar with true love's kiss, Ferdi had awakened Snow White with it after all. He was also well aware that when he failed to break the curse, his secret would be known- he was just marrying Anna for the throne.

He could have drawn it out, attempted to kiss her and watch her face as it scrunched up in confusion, wondering why the kiss didn't work. Or he could do what he actually did- tell her the truth and hope it was enough to break her heart and cause her to freeze for good. Hans locked Anna alone in the room, unable to watch her slowly freeze to death. Putting out the fire, closing the blinds in an attempt to lower the temperature was a mercy act. She would have made such a perfect little obedient queen, he owed her that much.

There was still the problem of his throne. Anna was dying, Elsa was clearly not going to marry him, and there wouldn't be a throne if the entire land was frozen to death. A great solution popped into his head, a way to kill two birds with one stone. He lied to Elsa's advisers and convinced them that Anna had insisted on marriage before she died. She had actually insisted on true love's kiss, but the advisers didn't need to know that. Once they had declared him to be the king, he ordered Elsa's death since she had caused Anna's. Which, to be fair, was true- or at least would be by the time the act was done. Her death would also, presumably, end the winter.

Then once more, Elsa, who had been merely a minor hiccup turned into a major one. She escaped the guards before the deed was done and the storm was growing in intensity. Realizing that this was his crowning moment of glory, the moment he could prove himself to his new people, he ventured out into the storm after Elsa. Since breaking Anna's heart had seemed to cause her despair and unable to go on, surely the same could work on her sister. Hans didn't even have to lie, well not exactly. For all he knew Anna was dead by then and it was all Elsa's fault.

As expected, Elsa collapsed to the ground in despair and hopelessness. The storm even seemed to abate, getting clearer to allow him a perfect view to behead her. Hans had never killed anybody, and Elsa would be the first. He would go down in history as the great King Hans of Arendelle, who avenged his fiance's death by killing her monster of a sister, the sorceress and Snow Queen Elsa who brought death and destruction unto the land. Foreign princesses would fight to be his queen, and his brothers would be disgraced- they had never killed a monster or sorceress before. Ferdi had come closest, but all he did was kiss a girl he had loved and thought was dead. Which was even creepier than what Hans was about to do, once Hans thought about it.

But that moment never came. Anna, who had somehow managed to survive for much longer than he thought she would and stopped his sword from striking Elsa, causing it to shatter. Apparently Anna needed less of true love's kiss and more of an act of true love, for as his hands stopped throbbing from the sword which had shattered in his hands, she was being embraced by Elsa.

Before he could regain his footing, Elsa had reversed the winter she created, Anna was being embraced by a mountain man, and he got punched overboard by his former fiance while Elsa's advisers cheered in the background. And had he seen a talking snowman on deck, or was that just his imagination?

In less than three days he had gone from being a thirteenth son, to being engaged to a princess second in line for the throne, to being a king, and then to be a prisoner on his own ship. His brothers would never let him hear the end of it once he got home, and that wasn't even on top of whatever punishment they would dish out for nearly beheading the monarch of a foreign land and nearly killing her sister.

Meanwhile, Elsa, who in his eyes was just as guilty as he was, was embraced with open arms. Forgotten was the fact she had been responsible for Anna's freezing heart. Forgotten was the fact she had nearly brought about the worst catastrophe Arendelle had ever faced. Instead it was all love, acceptance and ice skating.

Elsa had gotten her happy ending along with Anna. Hans, had just as much if not worse of a childhood than theirs.

So where was his?

****Author's Note****

I have enough stories going on, but this one popped into my head the other night and now I can't write anything else until it's done. It started as an attempt to explain Han's actions in the movie and sudden betrayal, without going with the 'Hans is a sociopath' theory.

So far, I hope he seems in character. Since Hans is a Dutch/German name (and the character was named for the author of the Snow Queen), I went with that when naming the rest of his siblings. Because Snow White's prince is supposedly named Ferdi, I decided to include it into the story, and we never really learn of her prince's family, so he could have twelve brothers.

This story is about what happens after the movie, Hans' punishment, and how he learns what love really is. There will be a total of 13 chapters, befitting the title. Next chapter is called, 'The Eldest Daughter'. I don't have an update schedule, but I have all the chapters outlined, so the next one should be up soon.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review.


	2. The Eldest Daughter

I do not own the rights to anything Disney.

**The Eldest Daughter**

Margaret's life wasn't a fairytale.

For starters, she was most certainly not a princess. Margaret, or Grete as she preferred to be called, was from a family of bakers. She was the eldest daughter and had five sisters- Becca, Lisa, Tilly, Cara, and Mia.

Her family lived on the floor above their bakery, which could be rather hectic at times. The sisters shared one bedroom with three to a bed. Sleeping in the middle of the bed, with a sister on each side wasn't the most pleasant thing to fall asleep too. Especially when they decided that your body made a great resting place for their cold. However, waking up next two people who loved you was nice after a bad dream. She'd never admit it out loud to them, but she really did love them, even when she never had any privacy or they were always taking her things. Of course, she'd always steal it right back- brush, mirror, hair tie, book or whatever else her younger sisters had taken and hidden away. The one nice thing about being the eldest was that they could never take her clothes, not until she outgrew them anyway.

With five active sisters, two protective parents, and other relatives working at the bakery, Grete was never alone. Not that she minded- much.

The Burg Family Bakery sold all sorts of breads, pastries, pretzels, noodles and other treats. One of their more well known breads was their signature Burg bread. Grete's father, Rueben Burg had worked for years to perfect a bread that would taste delicious to people, but not so much to bugs, rats, and other animals who had a fondness for nibbling on their bread. The key ingredient came from the woods over the bridge outside the kingdom. Only Grete and father knew what it looked like or where it grew. Her father was extremely protective of the identity of the plant that had brought great luck and fortune to his bakery. Grete only knew because she was with him on the day he found it- nobody else, not even Grete's mother knew the location. It for a good reason though- over the years a few spies from rival bakeries tried their best to learn the identity of the plant, though all had failed.

He was always trying out new ingredients and new spices in their baked goods. He would say, "Grete, our bread is good, no? But why settle for good when it could be great, or magnificent, something the angels themselves would sing about?"

She would always laugh at that. Her father could always make her laugh. Like the times he would bemoan his fate of having six daughters when he only wanted a son. The somber mood would quickly be ruined by him picking up whichever daughter was closest and tickling her, followed by letting his young daughters braid his hair and beard with flowers. The image of her father, huge and muscular, being decorated with flowers could always bring a smile to Grete's face, even when she was sad.

According to her mother, Gretchen, her father hadn't always been like that. He had once been a proud soldier in the king's army until a war injury forced him to return home and take over his father's bakery. Grete's grandfather had inherited from his father and so on, going as far back as Corona's beginning. Naturally Rueben wanted a son of his own to inherit the bakery, but got Grete and her sisters instead. He had been disappointed at first, but when Grete was placed into his arms when she was born, he was a changed man. Gretchen likened him to a loaf of day old bread- crusty and hard on the outside, but soft and light on the inside; getting softer and fresher with the arrival of each daughter. Once a strong, tough, soldier he was now a jolly giant, friendly to all those who came into his shop.

In the shop, her father saw to the baking side of things while her mother would be working on the pastries and decorations, or out front by a small cart to sell some goods to people who were in too much of a hurry to stop inside. Her younger sisters would play out in the plaza- playing chase, braiding each other's hair, or join some of the other neighborhood children. Grete and Becca were old enough to join some of their aunts and cousins in the kitchen doing the more delicate work with icing and decorations for the treats. Sometimes her father would let her join him in his experiments, or show her the business of running the bakery since she was going to inherit it someday.

Every once in a while the princess would stop by and let Grete's sisters play with Pascal while the princess stopped to chat with her subjects and see how their lives were going. She was pretty humble for a princess, which probably had to do with being locked in a tower for most of her life. However, she did have a genuine interest in the lives of her people and was also curious. Other kingdoms might find her behavior peculiar, but the villagers were so grateful to have their princess back, they didn't care if she was odd. Occasionally her husband would join her, though he'd do his best to keep his hands in plain sight lest anybody accuse him of returning to his thieving ways.

And that was Grete's life. Do chores, work at the bakery, watch her sisters, help her father. Occasionally their might be a festival or celebration. Or Jakob would stop by with fresh eggs, milk, flour and other supplies for the bakery while trying his best to flirt with Grete.

Jakob, she supposed was attractive, but he was also rather annoying. He was always bragging about the latest wares from foreign lands his merchant family had gotten in. He didn't even have to deliver the supplies to the bakery, he only did it so he could see Grete. Her mother was always encouraging her to be nice to him, but sometimes when his mouth was running about trading with foreign lands such as Arendelle, Agrabah, and others, and how great they were, Grete just wanted to slap him and ask, what was so wrong with Corona? What was so wrong that he wanted to leave and have adventures as soon as he was of age?

Not that she did. Her mother would have boxed her ears for being so rude, especially to Jakob of all people. "Don't bite the hand that feeds you," her mother would say.

That was Grete's life. It life wasn't a fairytale, nor did she want it to be.

***Author's Note***

I'd like to thank Queen for reviewing last chapter, and to all those who favorited and followed the first chapter. Hopefully I'll be hearing from more of you in the future.

So, that's Grete. She's the opposite of Hans and Anna- the eldest, from a large and close family, and is okay with her life. The four little girls in the dance scene of Tangled who were braiding Rapunzel's hair are Grete's sisters. There's one brief shot of a woman next to a cart of bread who is her mother. The bread, and the cupcakes Rapunzel and Flynn share are all from the bakery.

Jakob is a minor character, included as a rival for Grete's affections and to serve a small purpose in the final chapter.

Next chapter is 'Mercy' in which Hans receives his punishment and eventually ends up in Corona.

Thanks for reading, and if possible, please leave a review.


	3. Mercy

I do not own the rights to Disney. Contains spoilers for Frozen.

**Mercy**

There had been very few times when Hans had been face to face with his father in the throne room. Even fewer when he had been the focus. And only this once when the majority of his brothers were present.

He had dreamed of this moment plenty of times involving a variety of scenarios. Sometimes it revolved around his father giving him an important mission or quest that only he could go on. Sometimes it involved his father declaring that all of his brothers were unfit to ascend the Southern Isles throne and he had chosen Hans as his heir. Sometimes it was as simple as his father telling Hans he loved him and embracing him in a hug.

His daydreams certainly never were about Hans being dragged in front of his father as a prisoner, in chains, and awaiting his punishment.

On the dais before him stood his father in front of his throne. King Cobus had his hands clasped firmly behind his back and had his steely gaze set upon Hans. Perched on top of his head was the golden and bejeweled crown that the kings of the Southern Isles had always worn- not that Hans would ever get a chance to wear it himself. Despite going white years ago, his father still had most of his hair including a fully grown beard.

Five of his brothers stood to the left of their father, and five to the right- Ferdi was with Snow White, and Klaas was too busy playing ambassador somewhere. Henrik was on the far left, and the brothers were standing in order from eldest to youngest. All were wearing their best suits and white gloves that matched their father. All also had the same stern look of disappointment and disgust on their faces.

Hans had been brought before them by the palace guards. His hands were in the same sort of chains Elsa had been in. Whether or not that was intentional, he didn't know; he wouldn't put it past his brothers to do such a thing. With his hands chained behind his back, it was awkward and hard to walk, not that the guards were making it any easier. Once they had stopped in front of the dais, they threw him to the knees, just adding to his humiliation.

He looked up into his father's eyes hoping for some glimpse of sadness or regret. All he saw instead were a pair of cold blue eyes judging him, without any warmth or love. "Prince Hans," said his father, "You were sent as an ambassador to Arendelle on behalf of the Southern Isles. The former king and queen of Arendelle perished in a storm on the way here, to negotiate a new trade agreement. It was my hope you would smooth things over with the new queen and get her to sign the agreement her parents failed to do so. Instead, you plan a coup, nearly behead her, and nearly kill her younger sister- your own fiancee."

"Father, there were extenuating circumstance, I'm sure-" began Hans in hopes to defend himself, only to be cut off by his father.

"Enough," boomed his father, his voice reverberating off of the walls, "I will not hear any excuse! You were lucky that Queen Elsa only sent you back in chains and not with one Arendelle's warships. I'll be sending Marten tomorrow in hopes he can still salvage an alliance with Arendelle."

Marten practically preened under the attention from their father and Hans snorted. Marten was the scholar, the ambassador, the one who got along well with everybody. It was actually sort of a surprise that he hadn't been sent in Hans place.

"I can see now it was a mistake to trust you when I should have sent Marten." And there it was, his father reading his mind. "Even Rupert and Wilbert could have done a better job," he said, referring to the younger twins who were notorious tricksters. "Now about your punishment."

His brothers and Hans all snapped to attention, curious as to what their father would decide. Surely he wouldn't execute Hans? Rupert and Wilbert had caused more chaos in the past, once the Duke of Weselton had threatened to go to war when they stole his toupee. Marten was the one who defused the situation, convincing him that the twins were merely hoping to surprise him with a better toupee on behalf of the Southern Isles and needed to know the appropriate size for the new one. Not only did the Duke eat it up, but he proclaimed the newer one better than the last- despite the tendency to flap about when he wasn't paying attention. The twins had only been confined to their rooms for a month for the stunt. Granted, what Hans had done was slightly worse, so perhaps two months, or three? Maybe a year? Or mucking out the stables? He had never gotten in trouble with his father before, so the odds should be in his favor of a lighter punishment.

"Prince Hans, You have dishonored your family and your country. As such, you are hereby stripped of your title, and banished from the Southern Isles. Wherever you go, you are required to get permission to stay there by the leader of the land, tell them your story, and present them with this letter. May they show you the mercy you failed to give Queen Elsa and Princess Anna."

There was a collective gasp in the room, from the palace guards, his brothers, and himself.

"Father please, reconsider-" The words came from Henrik surprisingly, he had never acted as if he cared about Hans before.

Their father raised a hand to silence Henrik. "I have made my decision, and considering his actions is a merciful one."

Hans started to laugh, the situation was truly hilarious. "Merciful?" he spat, "You call ignoring me my entire life, merciful?"

"It would be wise for you to shut your mouth boy," responded his father in an even sterner tone than before.

Hans didn't even bother to listen, he just continued laughing. "My entire life I've shut my mouth, hoping for some acknowledgement from you, but all you ever did-"

Smack.

The sound of his father backhanding him echoed loudly in the room, causing several of his brothers to flinch. His cheeks stung, but it couldn't compare to the hurt his heart was feeling. The first time in his life that Hans could remember being touched by his father and it was a slap. Not a hug or any other form of affection or comfort, but an act of malice and hate.

"I've had enough from this traitor's insolent mouth; take him away."

The guards dragged Hans to his feet. Judging from the tight grip they had on his arms, he would have bruises there tomorrow that would match the one that was currently forming on his face. His father had turned his back to Hans and his brothers had their eyes turned to the ground, refusing eye contact with Hans. All shared the same solemn look, not even the twins or Otto, the brothers who had ignored him for two years were rejoicing in his punishment. Normally the three relished the chance to mock Hans or take pleasure in his pain.

But not this time. This time was different, and they knew it.

"What about them," he yelled on his way out, "where's their punishment? I'm like this because of them! You gave me to them to raise and what a fine job they did!"

Hans never got to see the reaction to his words. He was out of the room and the doors were slammed in his face.

* * *

Hans was thrown back into his cell on the ship. The Southern Isles believed that locking prisoners up top was more of a punishment than being in the hold. Let them see what they're missing out on due to their crimes, was the philosophy. Before Hans thought it was ridiculous, but after spending several weeks in it, he understood the theory behind it. He was so close to freedom and the open air, but the iron bars stood in his way.

And once again, here he was. Living in a kingdom called the Southern Isles meant he was going to have to travel by ship before he could actually be banished. Until that moment he was stuck behind his bars once more. Not that he minded really. Perhaps his father would change his mind at the last minute. Perhaps one of his brothers would plan a daring escape. Perhaps the crew would release him and demand that he be the king instead.

Perhaps a fairy godmother would show up and wave her wand, making all his troubles go away. Because that was more probable than any of the other scenarios his brain had come up with so far.

He must have dozed off, something that he would have thought impossible a few weeks ago since his current bed was a slab of wood. Now that he had spent several weeks sleeping on it, he had no trouble dozing off before his head slammed against the back of his prison, jolting him awake. He rubbed the back of his head gently. At this rate every inch of him would be battered and bruised before the day was done.

A guard came and unlocked his door, leading Hans outside and down a plank onto land. None of the crew members, including the guards in front and behind him would look directly at him, choosing to sneak furtive glances his way. It wasn't everyday you saw royalty being banished.

As his feet touched ground, Hans took in the scenery around him and recognized it. Ferdi's kingdom jutted out a bit into the open water, and the closest kingdom to the main island where the capital was. Was this spot chosen because it was convenient, or did his father actually care and wanted Hans to have a chance? Knowing his luck, it was the former.

That was pretty much confirmed when the guard only gave him the letter his father had talked about. No money, supplies, change of clothes, just a useless piece of paper. Hans could just feel the _love _and _care_ his father had for him.

Once the guard gave him the letter, he said, "We'll be boarding the ship now and you're to remain here. Our orders are to shoot on sight if you attempt to board or follow us."

With a quick turn on his heel, the guard joined the several other guards who had come along, and the ship was sailing off into the distance, leaving Hans alone. No last minute salvation was coming, nor was any fairy godmother.

Hans' life wasn't a fairytale, after all.

* * *

It took several days for him to reach Ferdi's castle on foot. If he had a horse, it would have taken less time. If he had food he wouldn't have to worry about scrounging something edible up in the forest, or stealing from farmhouses along his way. If he had money, he could have paid to stay in an inn instead of sneaking into barns at night and sleeping in the hay with the animals.

All he had was the stupid letter. The stupid letter he tore open and read once it was clear the ship wasn't coming back and he should abandon all hope. The letter was short and to the point:

_To my fellow sovereign,_

_Standing in front of you is my sorry excuse for a son. I have banished him from my kingdom for the attempted regicide of Queen Elsa of Arendelle, and the attempted murder of her younger sister, Princess Anna of Arendelle. He has instructions to tell you his tale and await permission to stay in your land after doing so. Banish him, behead him, or find mercy in your heart that he failed to find himself, I do not care. He is my son no longer._

_His majesty, King Corus of the Southern Isles_

When he did reach the castle, Hans had a hard time even getting a meeting with his brother due to his scraggly appearance. His clothes were torn and ripped in places, he hadn't shaved for almost a month, and he smelled like a barn. His appearance was befitting of a madman more than a prince.

Once he did manage to have an audience with his brother and present him their father's letter, Ferdi could offer nothing more than offering him a night in the castle and some supplies. Despite being the king of his own land, he was still afraid of their father and didn't want to be the one who offered his brother sanctuary and a place at his court. His wife Snow White, did insist that Hans was to be given a chance to bathe, some clean clothes, a decent meal, and a good night's sleep before he left.

And once more he was off. This time he had a pack of supplies, money, a horse, and a map to know where he was going. Looking at the map he saw that Weselton was close by. While he and the Duke may have butted heads on occasion, they did ultimately agree that Elsa had to be stopped.

His hopes were dashed quickly though. Barely an hour in Weselton and he was booted out- this time without supplies, money, his horse or his map. The Duke could protest all he wanted, but he was truly the Duke of Weaseltown. He gave a flowery and overly complex speech to Hans concerning the reasons behind his actions, but it pretty much came down to the Duke wanting to get back into Elsa's good graces and couldn't risk showing Hans any mercy.

By the time he was on the road again, there was a chill in the air- this time due to the natural progression of the seasons and not Elsa's powers. Without a map, he didn't know where he was going. He would come across the occasional trader or traveler, but all give the crazy-haired madman a wide berth on the road- not that he blamed them, he would have done the same.

He wondered along, doing what he could to get by. There were the few who might give him a few coins or bits of food out of pity and a desire for him to go away, or offer him payment in exchange for a little bit of work. It was such a droll and harsh life that Hans would often contemplate giving up. What was the point of living such a life when he would never find a ruler willing to give him mercy? Wouldn't it just be easier to go and lie in a ditch somewhere and welcome death with open arms?

Whenever such thoughts plagued him, he would feel a fire ignite inside of him, one fed off of all the anger and hate he had toward his father. He wasn't useless and wasn't a sorry excuse for a son. He'd show him, Hans would do something so incredible, it would show them all- his father and his brothers. He'd make them regret their actions toward him, and have them begging at his feet for forgiveness.

Thoughts like those gave him the desire and urge to continue on. Despair was powerful, but revenge was more than enough to take it on.

Once he came across a person who looked even crazier than him- a little humpbacked old lady, he saw in the forest alongside the path he was on. He got close to her, hoping for some shelter and food, but back away once he heard her strange mutterings. "Need some, need some, but he's too young, too young. Can a wait a bit more, wait a bit more, they always come back to me, come back to me."

That was too crazy, even for Hans.

The path did eventually lead to a cross roads, with one path leading across a long bridge and into a city. Hans decided to try that one first since it showed the most promise at leading to civilization. He recognized the golden sun on the purple backdrop that was everywhere, but couldn't remember where from. The cold night air was seeping into his bones, causing him to shiver violently. His stomach rumbled, as a reminder it had been days since his last decent meal. He doubted the rulers of this land would grant him asylum, but perhaps they'd be nice like Ferdi and at least give him a place to sleep. Maybe if he was lucky, they'd give him some clothing appropriate for winter to replace his current thread-barren summer ones.

A movement from the corner of his eye caused him to stop and pause. Turning, he saw it was... Anna? As the girl moved closer he realized he was mistaken. Her hair was red like Anna's, but more of an auburn color with more brown than red. It was braided down her back in a single French braid and not two pigtails. Her eyes were a warm chocolate brown, not blue. In her arms was a basket of rolls, breads, and other baked goods that made his mouth water.

She held out a roll in her right hand, hanging onto the basket with her left. "Would you like one? They're a couple days old, and I'm just taking them to the shelter down the street. It looks like you could use them just as much as the people there."

Hans eyed it warily. There had been several instances when people had offered him food only for it turn out to be a trap, or a chance for them to amuse themselves through his humiliation- something he wasn't a complete stranger to thanks to his brothers.

Seeing his hesitation, the girl said, "Go on, take it. I promise, I'm not going to hurt you. Though if you try anything on me, my dad won't hesitate to bake you in one of our ovens." There was a smile on her face, so Hans supposed it wasn't true, but something about the tone implied it could be. Either way, he was hungry and snatched the roll from her hands.

"There, see? Nothing to worry about."

Hans nodded in agreement. The roll may have been days old, but it tasted better than anything else he had eaten recently. There was a time when he would have scoffed at the thought of eating day old bread without any jam or butter to go with it, but now he didn't care. Food was food, and free food was even better.

The girl held out her free hand and offered it to him. "I'm Grete. What's your name?"

Swallowing a piece, Hans shook her hand and responded. "I'm Hans... Hansel."

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank JanessaVR and Queen for leaving reviews, which are always appreciated.

As you can tell by the length of this chapter, the story is finally taking off. The first two chapters where more about setting up the characters than the actual story. Next chapter is called, 'Breaking Bread' and shows Hans adjusting to his new life at the bakery. I realize that a young girl offering a crazy looking guy bread and eventually a job isn't the smartest thing for a person to do, but there's a reason. The same goes for his name change at the end. Hopefully I did a good job keeping Hans in character.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and if possible leave a review.


	4. Breaking Bread

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Spoilers for Frozen.

**Breaking Bread**

Hansel reminded Grete of a wild animal. Skittish, and ready to run if she made any sudden movements. The way he nearly jumped out of skin when she started to talk to him, and how his mouth seemed to water at the roll and her hand, yet his eyes were full of distrust indicated he had been through something horrible. Then again, Mia, who was six could have figured it out due to the state of his clothes. Tears everywhere, and no winter items at all. He had a scraggly beard with red hair growing in every direction. His beard hadn't ben shaved in a while, let alone trimmed.

Grete silently guessed he must have been on the road for quite a well, but didn't dare ask. If she got too inquisitive, he might take off and then who knows what would happen.

"My family owns the bakery over there," she said pointing her right hand behind her. "We could get you a hot bath, and give you the small room by the kitchen for a place to sleep tonight."

His face scrunched up in confusion. "Why?" he asked. "You don't know me, I could be a madman for all you know. Didn't your parents ever tell you not to talk to strangers?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "One," she said, pointing her right index finger at him, "my family can see everything going on in their store window." To prove her point she turned around and waved. Hans could see two figures inside wave back. "Two, we're in Corona. The Prince Consort used to be a thief, and an orphan before that. He stole for survival. He and Princess Rapunzel believe the best way to decrease crime, is to increase charity. They've encouraged people to give to those in need and even set up shelters. That's where I was headed before I ran into you, on my way to donate food."

Hansel blinked at her, taking her words in. He must have been on the road for a very long time, there were few people around who hadn't heard of the changes in Corona. Some foreigners called them fools, while others called them generous. While not all the crime was gone from Corona, crimes being committed out of desperation in need to survive had gone down. It helped that all the ruffians and thugs at the nearby Snuggly Duckling had reformed, some even joining the guards or joining other occupations. There would always be those who committed crimes out of greed, jealousy, or arrogance, but Grete liked to think that overall, Corona was a better place.

Now if she could only convince Hansel of that.

"Warm bath, safe place to sleep, decent food, maybe even a job... unless you're going to get any better offers out here?"

* * *

"No."

"But-"

"Grete, I'm with your father on this. I know the prince and princess want us to be more charitable towards those in need, but why should we let some stranger into our home?"

Grete was having a hard time convincing her parents to let Hansel stay the night. He was currently in the back near the ovens, trying his best to dissuade Gertrude, the family dog, from sniffing and licking him all over. Grete was with her parents in the front of the store, which had been closed for an hour ago, to have a private conversation. As private of a conversation one could have since all her of her sisters were gathered on top of the stairs on the landing, ears straining to hear the conversation below them.

"Just hear me out," she said. "Papa, your back and leg have been hurting you for a while, and you're having a hard time carrying supplies around the bakery. You need help-"

"Frank and Paul are more than enough help," insisted Rueben, referring to Grete's cousins.

Seeing where Grete was steering the conversation and finding herself suddenly in agreement with her daughter, Gretchen interjected, "Yes, but both will be leaving soon- Frank's got an apprenticeship with the butcher down the road, and Paul will soon be joining the guards at the castle. You could do with somebody to help you with the heavy lifting around here."

"And you don't even have to worry about him being of Josef's men," added Grete. Josef was the baker who had made several attempts in the past to find out the secret of their Burg bread. He had attempted to bribe some of their family who work there, approached Grete and her sisters in the street before, and had even offered her father a large sum of money for the recipe. The attempts had never been successful though, but it wouldn't be beneath Josef to send one of his people into the bakery as a worker. "He knew nothing of the reform in Corona, and well, look at him. He's been on the road for some time and is from a foreign land. Papa please," said Grete taking his hands into hers, "we all want you to be around for a very long time. You can't do that if you get hurt from overworking yourself."

Rueben looked at his daughter and his wife said, "Your daughter has a point, Reuben, and Gertrude approves of him."

"My daughter," he scoffed. "Why is it whenever she has an idea, she's my daughter and not yours? Fine, I give in. He has a week to prove himself and he sleeps in the kitchen away from _my_ daughters."

"Shouldn't you be telling him that and not us?" asked Grete.

Her father tweaked her nose. "You're lucky you're cute," he said as he walked toward the kitchen where Hansel was waiting. Gertrude sitting by his side, pawing him occasionally for attention.

As her father exited the room, Grete's mother leaned over to him and said with a smirk, "Your father is like bread. Crusty on the outside, but soft on the inside- especially when it comes to his daughters."

* * *

Thwack.

"Be a little gentler Hansel, the dough will never rise if you beat the flour to death first," joked Frank. His uncle Rueben had told him to show Hansel what to do at the bakery before Frank left for good to be a butcher. He had been showing Hans where the supplies were when Frank's aunt Gretchen yelled for more flour. Since Hans would be doing the job in the future, Frank decided it'd be best to let him bring the flour in- he didn't know Hans would drop it like a bag of potatoes instead of a bag of flour which could easily rip open.

"Whatever," muttered Hans, not really caring. Sure his current living conditions were an improvement, but he was a prince by birth, not a manual worker. He had done odd jobs while on the road, but they were temporary. Hans didn't know if he could work in a bakery for the rest of his life. It was so... meh. Not befitting of royalty. Hans had ambitions to prove himself to his father and brothers. King and prince probably weren't career options at this point, but he could still end up as an adviser, diplomat... something more impressive than a baker. Actually he wasn't even a baker, just a lowly laborer who happened to work at a bakery. His brothers would be _so_ impressed with that title.

Gretchen looked from where he slammed the bag on the wooden table she was using in the kitchen to Hans. "Frank, go home, you've done enough for today."

Frank nodded, and hung up his apron by the back door. He gave one last pat on the head to Gertrude before leaving for good.

Hans turned away, but Gretchen grabbed his arm. "What's wrong?"

Startled by her question, Hans blink a couple times in confusion. "I don't...what makes you think something's wrong?"

She put a hand on her hip and stared at him. "You stomp about, glare at everybody, snap at people, and just treated the flour like a mortal enemy. In the past two days, you've acted worse than my two teenage daughters. Now, what's wrong? Do you not like it here? Is there something we did?"

"No-o-o," stuttered Hans. He had told the Burgs very little about himself. Just that his last name was Anders, he was from Ferdi's kingdom, and all of his family was gone. Which in a way, was true. Sort of. Realizing that Gretchen wasn't going to leave him alone until she was satisfied, he wracked his brain trying to come up with an explanation that wouldn't reveal his true origins and wouldn't require him going to the king and queen of Corona only to be banished, again. "Um... it's just... nothing I've ever done could please my family. When I said they were gone, I didn't mean they had died. I meant they no longer considered me part of the family."

There. That should satisfy her and was near to the truth as he could get. Gretchen pulled a coin out of her pocket and placed it in Hans' hand. "Down the street is Josef's bakery. Go there and buy a bread roll."

"What?"

"Do it, for me," said Gretchen. "When you've got the roll, come straight back here."

* * *

"Get a roll, she said. Why should I get a roll when they have plenty of their own?" muttered Hans as he made his way down the street. He had very little interaction with the villagers so far, so many snuck looks at him, curious to see the new worker at Burg's bakery. One or two tried to come up to him to make conversation, or sell their wares, or gossip about how the Prince and Princess were expecting, but Hans waved them away. He wasn't in the mood to talk to them. He had a stupid roll to attend to.

Ten minutes later and he was at Josef's bakery. It wasn't exactly hard to miss- there was writing on the windows, on the writing above the windows, and of course the large sign above the door proclaiming the building to be Josef's bakery. The Burg's were a lot more subtle- a simple sign depicting a pretzel with the words, 'Burg Family Bakery'. The other buildings along the street shared the Burg's simple style, and weren't as loud as Josef's signage in a gaudy gold color. While yellow was one of Corona's colors, it wasn't as bright and flashy as the color on Josef's shop. Hans secretly suspected he was overcompensating for something. What that something was, he didn't know yet.

Wanting to get his shopping trip over with, Hans opened the door and entered the shop. For being mid-afternoon, the place wasn't very crowded, at least not as crowded as the Burg's. There were a few people milling about, but not enough that Hans had to wait in a line. There were several different types of rolls available, but Hans just grabbed the closest one and walked up to the counter to pay.

A roly-poly looking man was on the other side. He was shorter than Hans, and had combed over his dark hair in an attempt to conceal his bald spot. The Duke of Weselton's toupee was a better concealer than the hair.

Taking stock of the roll in Hans' hand, the man scoffed. "Is that all? Surely a strapping lad such as yourself could make do with a few loaves of bread, or some cupcakes for your sweetheart? What about some cranberry muffins?"

"The roll is fine," insisted Hans, and put the coin Gretchen had given him on the counter.

The man made a grab for it, but then stopped. "Hang on, you're Reuben's new worker... and yet you're here. Smart boy."

Hans bristled at being called a boy. He hadn't been a boy in years, and was rather close to telling the guy off, or the real reason he'd come in. Then he stopped, realizing that telling him Reuben's wife had sent him in to buy a roll probably wasn't the smartest thing to say, at least for Gretchen's sake.

The man held out his hand to Hans. "Josef Holst, owner of Josef's bakery."

Reluctantly, Hans took his hand and shook it. "Hansel Anders."

"Now Hansel," said Josef, "tell me, how is Rueben treating you over there? Has he trusted you with the secret ingredient yet?"

"Secret ingredient?" asked Hans, puzzled. He had been shown many things in the past two days, but none of which he would classify as secret.

Josef shook his head, and tutted. "Oh Hansel, I'm afraid Rueben doesn't trust you at all. Not much of a surprise considering he's refused to tell anybody, even his fellow bakers the secret to his Burg bread. Say, here's an idea- what if you snoop about and find out what it is, and bring it to me. I'll reward you handsomely, 10,000 gold coins."

Hans knew when he was being manipulated, his brothers had done it often enough to him over the years. He also knew within minutes of meeting him, Josef was a squirrely, greedy little man, willing to do anything for money- which Hans did understand. Yet, 10,000 gold coins was so tempting. The Burgs had been rather nice to take him in, something he doubted Josef would have done. But 10,000 gold coins...

He could buy a ship and sail to the Southern Isles, and show off his new found wealth to his brothers. And if they weren't impressed, he could always hire a band of mercenaries to get his point across, perhaps seize the throne for himself. Then again, he doubted his gold would go far enough to buy the amount of mercenaries or bribe the amount of palace guards needed to take over the Southern Isles.

Instead, he could buy himself a brand new wardrobe and charm some foreign princess, or become an adviser to the king. Or perhaps invest the money in trade, and receive more money thanks to his investments.

There were so many things he could do with the 10,000 coins, and all would be better than being a worker at a bakery.

After some debate, he replied, "I'll think about it." His response was worthy of a prince- not committing to anything, but leaving several possibilities nonetheless. If he found the ingredient Josef was referring to, he could bring it to him. If not, or if he got cold feet, well he hadn't said yes, so Josef couldn't hold him to anything.

Josef nodded. "Yes, yes, I understand your dilemma. Reuben has taken you into his home, but at the same time doesn't quite trust you. Take a few days to think it over and let me know." Josef shoved the coin back to Hans. "The roll is on the house. Think of it as an investment."

Hans knew enough about Josef to realize he had to be quite certain that Hans would follow through, in order to give up the coin. Only the promise of more coins would be enough for Josef to let go of one. That thought, combined with not wanting to be beholden to Josef, caused Hans to shove the coin back to Josef. "No, I insist. Wouldn't want word getting out that you're giving out your food for free, right?"

Josef laughed, his stomach bouncing up and down. "Of course," he said and picked up the coin, putting it into his pocket. "I like the way you think Hansel. You and I could go far together."

Hans smiled politely and grabbed his roll as he walked out the door.

He and Josef could go far together, indeed.

* * *

"Ah," said Gretchen as he entered the kitchen. "Put the roll down on the table."

Hans obliged, and placed the roll where Gretchen had indicated. Gretchen left the room, entering the front part of the building where the bakery was, before returning with a roll of similar size and color.

"People are like bread. Bread can come in a variety of types, sizes, and flavors, take these two rolls here. One is from our bakery and one is from Josef's."

"Alright..." said Hans, who really didn't know where the conversation was going. People were like bread? That was one of the craziest things he had ever heard of, including the time he thought he saw a magical snowman... in summer.

Gretchen picked up a nearby knife. "On the outside they look similar, but on the inside..." her voice trailed off as she cut each roll neatly in half. "On the inside, they are different. This one," she said, indicating the one on the left, "is from Josef's bakery. And this one," she said, indicating to the one on the right, "is from our bakery. Both breads are the same type and same age. Yet, Josef's bread is bland and stale, and ours is fresh and delicious. See?"

She handed Hans a piece of each roll, and he found himself agreeing with her. Josef's roll was indeed stale and bland, he had a hard time of swallowing one bite and wished he had a glass of water to help it down. Meanwhile, the roll from the bakery was light and airy. It tasted just like the one Grete had given him, almost as if he was eating a cloud.

"Now, the rolls looked the same on the outside, but tasted different on the inside. The reason is the ingredients. Josef cares more about his profit than the quality of his product, ordering the cheapest ingredients possible. Us Burgs take pride in our work and it shows in our food."

"Okay, I get that, but what does that have to do with me?"

Gretchen smiled and cupped his chin in her hand. "People are like bread. How they turn out depends on what goes into them. Right now, the anger and hate you have in your heart towards your family are Josef's ingredients. As long as you keep it in, you'll turn out like his bread- bland and stale. But if you let it all go, and enjoy the life you have now, you could be Burg bread. Don't be Josef bread Hansel, be Burg bread."

When she was done with her little speech, she patted his cheeks gently as if he was a child. For some reason, being treated like a boy wasn't as insulting as when Josef had done so. "Take the rest of the roll outside and feed it to the birds. Rueben will have a fit if he spots Josef's bread inside his own bakery."

Hans did as he was told, thinking her words over. In a weird way, they made sense. His actions in Arendelle could be traced to his feelings toward his family, and look how things had turned out. At the same time, it wasn't as if he could let go of everything in an instant. All the years of being ignored, or not being good enough. The desire to hear his father say just once, "I love you". Or the urge to pummel his brothers and have them beg for mercy at his feet.

It was so easy for Gretchen to tell him to let it go and be Burg bread.

But how did one go about doing it?

* * *

Hans had a lot to think about over the next several days between Josef's proposition and Gretchen's advice.

He was currently in the kitchen, where he spent most of his time working. At the moment he was busy washing the numerous bowls, pots, and utensils the bakery used each day. Gretchen and Reuben were in the front minding the customers, while Grete was making pretzels with Becca in the kitchen. Gertrude was nearby, patiently letting Grete's younger sisters braid her hair. Hans didn't envy her, he had woken up his first day to the sight of flowers and braids in his beard. Paul had been nice enough to trim Hans' beard enough where it would be too short to braid, but still conceal his face. Hans wasn't sure if he would stay in the kingdom, but thought a beard would at least obscure his sideburns and keep somebody from recognizing him.

"Hansel, are you okay?" asked Grete.

His head jerked up at the question. He and Grete had interacted very little since she had first invited him insider her home, so the question seemed a little out of nowhere. Had her mother talked to her? Told her to keep an eye on him?

"I'm fine," he answered. "Why do you ask?"

Grete shrugged and continued with rolling out the dough for the pretzels. "You've been really quiet today, more so than usual. Something on your mind?"

Hans' first reaction was to answer 'no', but then realized Grete might actually be able to help him. "I keep hearing something about the bakery's bread with a special ingredient in the marketplace. Mind explaining?"

"Papa's always experimenting with the bread. Years ago he found one ingredient from the forest outside of Corona that makes the bread last longer, and keeps pests and rodents away from it. We only use it in the Burg bread since only small patches of it grow," answered Grete.

"Wait, so you know what it is?"

"She's the only one who knows besides Papa," commented Becca.

Grete rolled her eyes. "Only because I was with him when he found it."

"Why keep it sch a secret, why not share it with the world?" asked Hans.

"Because," groaned Grete, who was used to the question and tired of answering it all the time, "It's only available in limited amounts. Papa and I've tried getting to grow elsewhere, but it won't. And because it's so limited, if everybody knew about, they'd take it all, and it'd never grow back."

That, actually made sense to Hans. He doubted Grete would lie to him about the limited quantity of the ingredient, which sounded like some sort of plant. If it was as limited as she claimed, he could certainly see Josef abusing the small amount available.

"Grete, my pretzels aren't turning out like yours," whined Becca who had crumpled her dough back up into a ball to try again.

"Nobody makes pretzels like Grete," said one of the younger sisters who had come over to join in the conversation. Hans didn't remember her name, he couldn't tell any of the four younger sisters apart.

"Yeah," agreed another one, the littlest of the sisters. "Grete's pretzels, Grete's pretzels," she said, taunting Grete, who just ignored her. When that wasn't getting her attention, the youngest upped the ante. "Gretel's pretzels, Gretel's pretzels."

That did the job and Grete turned around. "All four of you, outside, _now.__"_

The four listened to their eldest sister and scampered out the back door, with Gertrude close behind, eager to look after the youngest Burg's. All four sang, "Gretel's pretzels" on their way out, annoying Grete to no end.

Becca giggled. "You have to admit, it is quite catchy. You strike me as more of a Gretel than a Grete too. I think I'll start calling you from that on."

"My name is Grete," she insisted, but could see her sister wasn't going to listen.

Hans, who had been taking it all in stride, decided to join in. Grete had put his mind to ease about one of the thoughts plaguing his mind, and he was in a much better mood. "Whatever you say,_ Gretel_."

Grete was ready to smack them both, but her mom stuck her head into the kitchen. "Grete, Hansel, Jakob's here with the week's supplies. I'll send him around back."

Hans frowned. "I understand why she told me the supplies had arrived, but why you?"

"Because Mama thinks Jakob and Gretel would make a good match," giggled Becca. "Gretel disagrees."

"Really?" asked Hans, amused, and not just at the fact Becca was continuing with calling her sister Gretel.

Grete waved a hand. "He's alright, just a bit too much for my taste."

Hans wanted to ask 'a bit too much what', but he didn't get the chance since that was the moment Jakob opened the back door. Hans assumed it was Jakob, and by Becca's and Grete's reactions he was right. Jakob was tall and skinny, rather lanky looking with tall black hair that jutted in every direction. His glasses kept slipping down his nose, and he would just keep pushing them back up with his index finger.

"Where's Frank? I have a wagon full of supplies outside just waiting to be unloaded," said Jakob, with another push of his glasses.

"Frank got an apprenticeship as a butcher, Hansel replaced him," replied Grete.

Jakob held out a hand, which Hansel took. "Glad to meet you Hansel. I have some papers for Grete to sign saying she got everything the bakery ordered. Are you alright unloading everything yourself?"

Hans nodded, it was his job after all. He wiped his wet hands on his apron to quickly dry them, and went outside where the wagon was waiting. There were several crates, bags, and barrels full of goods, and Hans unloaded them all, grateful that Frank had shown him where everything went ahead of time.

He had just finished unloading the last bag crate, containing easily breakable eggs when he heard an argument coming from the kitchen. Curious, he walked out of the pantry and into the large kitchen only to find Jakob and Grete in what seemed to be a heated discussion.

"Grete, come with me! It'll be fun, we'll see places like Arendelle, Agrabah, and other lands you don't even know existed!"

"Jakob, I don't want to go to foreign lands, I want to stay here, in Corona! And what's so wrong with Corona anyway that makes you want to leave so badly?"

"There's adventure out there! Don't you want to go on an adventure?"

Grete looked rather exacerbated and Hans guessed that she was about to lose it. He cleared his throat. "Ahem, Gretel, could you help me? I can't remember where the sugar goes..."

"Her name is not Grete, it's Gretel," puffed up Jakob, indignant that Hans couldn't remember her name.

"Actually it's Gretel now, here's your paperwork. I'd love to have this discussion further, but I have to get back to work, and I'm guessing you do too. Good luck on your journey," said Gretel as she practically forced Jakob out the back door before he could get one last word in.

She wiped her hands on her apron. "You said something about sugar?"

Hans nodded, and led her to the pantry. "Um... I guess I must have remembered where it went after all," he said sheepishly.

Gretel leaned against the door frame with her arms cross, and a look on her face that reminded Hans of her mother. "Uh-huh. You never had an issue with the sugar, did you? Thanks, by the way. Jakob... he has a hard time with letting go of an idea once he sets his mind on it. He's been wanting to travel on his family's merchant ships for a while, and now that he's of age, his parents are going to let him go. And he wanted me to come with him..."

"As his wife," finished Hans.

"It's not that I don't want to get married," said Gretel as she twisted her apron around in her hands. "It's just... I'm not ready to commit myself to a person, especially to Jakob. He's more like an annoying cousin or brother than a husband."

"I know," said Hans, and Gretel's head shot up. "I was, sort of engaged... it didn't end well," he explained. "It was quick, and I kind of broke it off once I realized I really wasn't in love."

Which was the truth. Hans had left out the part where he tried to kill his fiancee, but figured that might be a bit too much information.

"Wow," responded Gretel. "That's really mature of you. I wish Jakob could be like that. He's always talking about marriage and adventures, and neither sound that great. Look at you, on the road for all those months and seeing all those foreign lands... didn't seem like it was all that wonderful."

"It wasn't," agreed Hans. His circumstances were traveling were a bit different than Jakob though. Perhaps Jakob would fare better with actual money and support from his family. "Can I ask you something, Gretel? I know you said your father needed help around the bakery since Paul and Frank were leaving, but why me? Why not some random guy from the shelter?"

The question had been on his mind since the day before, when he had actually dropped off some food at the shelter. Men, women, and children had been there to get a hot meal, some newer clothes, to get out of the cold for a bit, or to see if any new jobs had been posted on the wall near the front. Hans realized that he would probably have ended up there too, if it hadn't been for the Burgs' generosity. While the shelter would have given him food and a bed, Hans would have hated ending up in one, being forced to rely on a hand-out for a survival. It would have been a low point for him, and made him a little more grateful for Gretel taking pity on him, and less inclined to follow through on Josef's offer.

Gretel shrugged. "I guess it was because you were out of town, so there was less chance of you working for Josef." She didn't notice him wincing slightly at that, and continued on. "And your eyes... they were so sad, and scared. It seemed like you could do with a break and somebody taking mercy on you."

The irony of Gretel's last sentence wasn't lost on Hans. He had needed mercy. He had just assumed it would come from his father, his brothers, or a king. It had never occurred to him it'd come from a daughter of a baker.

"Thanks, for that," he said quietly, not quite sure what he was saying. He had very rarely said thanks before in his life, let alone was sincere about it.

Gretel smiled at him, a very pretty smile he noticed. "You're welcome."

* * *

Hans' room was small, and on the other side of the pantry. It had been used for storage in the past, until it had been cleaned out a few years ago. Then it was used as a mini-break room of sorts, until it was given to Hans to use as a bedroom. There wasn't much in it, just a cot to sleep on, and a mirror with a small dresser beneath it. Inside were clothes that used to belong to Reuben that Gretchen had taken in to fit Hans. Compared to his room on the ship and where he had been sleeping the past few months, it was heaven.

At the moment though, he was having a hard time sleeping. Instead, he was looking at his father's letter and mulling over what to do. It was dark, but he didn't need to see the words. Those words had been ingrained into his memory months ago. The letter itself, was close to falling apart, and in nearly as bad condition as his clothes had been when he had first arrived in Corona.

It turned out, Hans remembered where he'd seen the colors before- one of the ships at Elsa's coronation had sported the colors and insignia. At one point during the coronation he could remember being introduced into the Princess of Corona, Rapunzel, and her Prince Consort. He had other things on his mind at the time such as his impending marriage to Anna and throne to claim, so he hadn't paid them much attention.

Perhaps that's why he had said Hansel rather than Hans when Gretel asked his name. Some little part of his frozen brain recognized the significance of the colors and realized that since the country's own prince and princess had been present for the coronation, they might not be so welcoming toward him. And Hans couldn't have dealt with another banishment, one more rejection.

He supposed it still wasn't too late to go to the castle and present his father's letter. But he didn't want to. He was actually starting to like it at the bakery. It may not have been what he imagined he would do when he was younger, but the Burgs were so different from the family he had grown up in. There were a lot of them, six children versus thirteen, but they were so close. They were loud and warm, whereas his family had been cold and distant. In less than a week he had felt more wanted and loved in the bakery than he had felt his entire life at the castle.

Part of him wondered if his family could have been like that if his mother had survived his birth. If she would have hugged him, and told him it was okay he wasn't born a Hanna. If she would have stepped in and told his three brothers to not ignore him for those two years. Nobody else seemed to care about him, perhaps she would have. There's a knot in his chest that he was unaware of having when he thought of his mother. His family had never talked much about her when he was younger, and he only knew what she looked like due to the paintings around the castle. Sometimes he would talk to them, and pretend that she would talk back and have a conversation with him.

He stopped once the twins caught him at it, and made fun of him. They told him he could have had actual conversations if he'd been born a girl and hadn't killed his mother.

It'd been a while since he thought about his mother. Going over Gretchen's speech in his mind, he discovered that he wanted it to be the sort of speech his own mother would have given him if she lived.

The sound of breaking glass caused him to jolt out of his daydreams. Gertrude wasn't barking, so he supposed it could be one of the family, but he still went to investigate since something doesn't feel right. Silently he walked out of his room and down the short hallway that lead to the kitchen. Gertrude was no where to be found, and the figure was rummaging through drawers and jars with only a candle for a light source.

That's when Hans knew something was wrong. If the intruder had been one of the family, they wouldn't be acting so stealthily. They also wouldn't have been startled when Hans appear in the kitchen- they would have known where his room was.

"What are you doing here?" growled Hans at the intruder. To his surprise, he was rather miffed that somebody broke into the bakery. It wasn't his bakery, wasn't his family, but that didn't stop his heart from pounding in his chest at the thought of harm coming to the Burgs.

The intruder held the candle out to light Hans' face and sighed, relieved. "Thank goodness, it's just you Hansel. You were taking your time getting back to me, so I decided to come do some investigating of my own."

Hans recognized the voice as belonging to Josef. Hans supposed he should be surprised the lengths the man would go to for the recipe, but he's not. Hans had tried to kill two people for a throne, which breaking and entering couldn't compare to.

"Get out of here," hissed Hans. He understood why Josef broke in, but he didn't want to wake the family and discover him. What if the family awoke? What if they assumed Hans was in league with Josef? Hans was just starting to like his job, he didn't want to lose it because of this idiot.

"I will, as soon as I find the ingredient. Unless you know where it is? Ten thousand gold coins, Hansel. Just tell me where it is."

Hans didn't know, but judging by the way the light from the candle reflected off of Josef's eyes, he wouldn't believe Hans. There was a crazy gleam in them, and Hans realized just how obsessed Josef is with the ingredient. Hans knew that gleam, it's one he'd seen reflected in the mirror so many times. It's one of passion, anger, and jealousy all rolled into one. A look that belonged to a man who's willing to do anything to get what he wanted- even kill.

Determined to keep the family safe, Hans said, "I know where it is, it's this way, in the pantry."

A grin spreads across Josef's face. Like the gleam in his eye, it's the grin of somebody who's about to get what they always wanted. "I knew you were smart boy, I'll promise you'll be rewarded greatly for your help."

With a wave of his arm, Hans directed Josef in the direction of the pantry. As Josef passed, Hans discretely grabbed one of the rolling pins he had washed earlier that day off a shelf. Then, with a quick movement, Josef was on the ground unconscious, and Hans rushed to put out his candle before it could start a fire. On his way down, Josef had fallen into a shelving of pans, baking sheets, and bowls causing enough of a racket for the family to wake up and rush to the kitchen.

Gretchen, who was in the lead, reached Hans first and glanced between him and the unconscious Josef on the floor.

"Burg bread," was the only thing Hans said. And it's all he had to say to her.

* * *

It took nearly two hours before Hans was left alone in the kitchen. The glass had been swept up, the kingdom guard's had come and gone, taking Josef with them to be locked up permanently. Gertrude was found near the back door with a piece of meat close by, evidently drugged to keep her out of the way while Josef searched.

Rueben, upon realizing what Hans had done, had joyfully clapped him on the back and proclaimed that he didn't need a week to know Hans should stay. The girls, including Gretel, cheered a bit, while Gretchen looked on with a certain gleam in her eyes. It wasn't a gleam of anger and jealousy like Josef, and even Hans had in the past. It was a gleam of pride, and hope. Hans wouldn't have been surprised if this hadn't been Gretchen's true intention when she sent him to Josef's bakery. Though, she probably couldn't have counted on Josef resorting to robbery.

Once he was left alone in the kitchen, Hans went back to his bedroom and knelt on the ground. His fingers grasped the letter which had fallen to the ground when Hans had jolted out of bed and hurried to the kitchen. There was a fireplace in the kitchen, with a fire still going to heat the kitchen area, along with Hans' room. Barefoot, Hans walked on the cool wooden floor and toward it, letter in hand.

He looked down at the letter. Gretchen had said to let go of his past, of his hate and anger, and to be Burg bread. Tonight, Hans had seen what Josef bread turned out to be like first hand, and he didn't like it.

But letting go wasn't easy. The letter was the last tie he had to his father, to his former identity of being Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. Letting go wouldn't mean just letting go of all his anger and jealousy, but also letting go of all the hope for a reconciliation, for a happy ending with his family. Realistically, Hans knew those possibilities had sailed a long time ago, when he made his choice to betray Anna. That didn't mean he had stopped hoping.

Be Burg bread, not Josef bread. Those words ringed in Hans' ears. Be Burg bread, not Josef bread. He had been Josef bread his entire life, it was time to try being Burg bread.

He tossed the letter into the fire and watched as it caught on fire and disappeared. Along with it went his hopes of returning to the Southern Isles as a hero. Of showing his brothers up. Of being hugged by his father.

He was no longer Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. He was now Hansel Anders of Corona, who worked at the Burg Family Bakery.

He was now Burg bread.

And he was okay with that.

****Author's Note****

Four reviews for the last chapter, which is very exciting. I'd like to thank JanessaVR, Queen, Nagasha, and watery-silver for leaving reviews. They let me know what people think of the story and are always appreciated.

This chapter was supposed to be that long, originally I'd figured it be around 3,000-4,000 words max. Nope, it's just over 7,000. I don't think the other chapters will be as long, but I could still be wrong like I was about this chapter.

Some notes about this chapter. Assuming that Hans was telling the truth about being ignored for two years by three brothers in the movie, there's an extra bit of fridge horror to that- none of his family members, or adults in his life, noticed it was going on, or cared enough to do something about it. Think about that. Nobody cared enough to tell his brothers to knock it off, and while it's possible they may have not done the invisible act around adults, Hans probably would have at least complained to somebody- and nothing happened for two years. And the fact that his three brothers were committed for that long... wow.

Since Grete has officially accepted Gretel as her name, and Hans has accepted Hansel, that's what I'm referring to them from now on as. As the Doctor once put it, your real name doesn't matter, it's the name you choose, like a promise you make. Both Grete and Hans choose new names, and I'm going with those. Do I realize they sound very similar to some certain fairy tale characters? Yes, I do. Like Disney I'm taking a well-known tale and rewriting it for my own purposes, though the witch won't come in until towards the end.

Also, the secret ingredient will be explained more, laterish. I really wanted that rolling pin at the end to be a frying pan for a reference to Tangled, but realized he'd be more likely to come across a rolling pin rather than a frying pan in a bakery.

Next chapter is called, 'And The Beat Goes On'. It will jump about two to three years in the future and cover all the changes. Hansel will still be at the bakery, he and Gretel will be closer, there'll be a new member to the Burg household (though probably not who'd you guess), and some royal news (besides the subtle line in this chapter).

Thanks for reading, and if possible leave a review.


	5. And The Beat Goes On

I do not own the rights to Disney. Contains spoilers for Frozen.

**And The Beat Goes On**

The next three years passed in a blur.

Hansel had arrived in Corona in January. A few weeks after his arrival, the country experienced its first big snow storm of winter.

"Come on Hansel, let's build a snowman," the younger Burgs had cried. Upon learning that Hansel wasn't very fond of snow (thanks to Elsa's winter in summer, though he didn't mention the cause) they tried their best to drag him to the winter wonderland that awaited him outside. While he refused to admit it out loud, he did have fun.

Winter turned into spring, which brought Princess Rapunzel's birthday and Hansel's first lantern ceremony. If he hadn't seen real sorcery in Arendelle, he would have called the sight of thousands of paper lanterns ascending into the air, shining fiercely against the black night, magic. He knew better, but his breath still got caught in his throat.

Summer arrived, bringing with it the birth of the new princess. Princess Aurora was named for her mother, and her maternal great-grandmother. Princess Rapunzel had been called Aurora at her birth, but once she returned and the king and queen learned she had been called Rapunzel her whole life, they decided to go along with it.

Fall came, bringing with it pumpkin everything. Pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pies, along with spiced apple pastries.

Then it was winter again. Followed by spring, summer, fall, and another winter. Spring. Summer. Fall. Winter. Spring. Again and again and again.

The seasons came and went easily, and Hansel found himself gradually adjusting to his new life at the Burg Family Bakery and in Corona. There were still times when he'd revert to his old self. Those moments were usually when it was long day, and Hansel was tired and quick to anger. He'd snap at the person who was closest to him, and immediately regret it afterwards. He would apologize of course, and remind himself to be Burg bread. Changing one's behavior and attitude wasn't an instant process; it took time, dedication, and patience.

And living in the same space as six active girls had taught him plenty of patience. While Gretel was rather calm, her younger sisters were wild and reminded Hansel of a spring storm- uncontrollable, and unpredictable. When he had first joined the bakery he had lumped all the younger Burgs together, but over the years had gotten to know them quite well. The sisters shared the same shade of auburn hair, a love of braiding and mischief, but that's where their similarities ended.

Becca, known as Rebecca whenever she was in trouble with her mother, was the second oldest and worked in the bakery with Gretel and their mother. She also could talk a person's ear off. She had inherited her father's jolly and social nature, and was quite popular with the customers, including many of the young boys in Corona. Hansel noted at seventeen she had more suitors than most princesses did.

Lisa, short for Lisbeth, was the quietest of the sisters. When she wasn't with her sisters she could be found in whatever quiet corner of the bakery she could manage (usually in Hansel's room where nobody would look for her, not that he minded too much) with her nose in a book, or down the street at the bookstore. She may not have been born with her father's social nature like Becca had, but she did share his business savvy and had even started to help him with the books, even at the young age of fifteen.

Mathilde, or Tilly as she was more commonly called, didn't just have a love for braiding. Her hands were always moving, either embroidering, knitting, crocheting, sewing- anything that involved cloth or yarn, she could do. When she didn't have anything in her hands, her fingers would tap away in boredom. Hansel would usually slip her some socks to darn, shirts with holes that needed patching, and more than once had 'accidentally' ripped some of his clothes to keep her busy. It first started as a tactic to keep her incessant tapping at bay, but had turned into a friendship of sorts. If he wasn't too busy, she'd show him some of the basic techniques. His brothers would have laughed at him for learning what they would consider 'women's work' but after living in rags for several months or walking in shoes with holes, Hansel was grateful for knowledge he once needed but didn't have. Hansel knew that Gretchen and Reuben were in talks with one of the town's finest seamstresses about an apprenticeship for Tilly.

Cara was next, and was only ten. She was the tinkerer of the Burgs and was fascinated with how things worked. Hansel could still remember the proud look on her seven year-old face as she explained how the lanterns worked when he saw them for the first time. She was a mix of Lisa and Tilly- could be found with her nose in a science book or somewhere around the bakery with a tool in her hand, insisting she was 'fixing' a piece of equipment or furniture. Hansel didn't know if the things she'd fixed were truly broken or if she had encouraged them a bit, but she had managed to stop the drawers in his dresser from getting stuck whenever he pulled them open.

Mia, was the baby of the family. She was the one who had called Grete, Gretel, and the name had stuck. Ever since adopting the new name, Jakob's attempts at wooing Gretel had decreased over time, until he left to go off and see the world like he always wanted. As the youngest Burg, at only seven, Mia was constantly trying to keep up with her older sisters, especially as they grew up and spent less and less time playing with each other, or braiding each other's hair. She would often get in the way, and be told 'she wasn't old' enough to help. Hansel had grown close to all of the Burgs, but the youngest was another story. He knew what it was like to be the baby of the family, the youngest of many siblings and being constantly overlooked.

Hansel would go out of his way to indulge each of the younger Burgs- letting Lisa read in his room and occasionally hiding a new book or two for her to find, providing Tilly with clothes to mend, and letting Cara babble on about the latest scientific theory she had read. For Mia, he would slip her extra trinkets for her hair such as a new ribbon from the marketplace. He'd also pay attention, and whenever she seemed to get on her sisters' last nerves, Hansel would give her a small task to do, making her feel important. While Hansel doubted Mia would turn out like he had, he still tried his best to make Mia feel as if she was needed in the bakery- something he had never felt during his entire childhood. Sometimes Gretchen or Reuben would catch him in those moments, and give him a smile. Gretchen would always tap his hand softly, and say, "Burg bread".

Over the three years, there had been a new addition to the household. Two years had passed since he arrived in Corona, and Hansel was on his way back from delivering food to the shelter, when a small noise had caught his attention. Curious, Hansel managed to trace the noise to underneath the cart in front of the shop. Since it was the end of the day, everything had been taken inside and the cart was empty. Except for the small kitten who was using it as a shelter.

Hansel had never been much of a cat person. He had hunted with the palace dogs before, and was well acquainted with horses, but had spent very little time around cats. The pitiful mewing coming from the kitten and the matted state of its fur was still enough to pull at Hansel's heart however. Enough that for a split second he was reminded of himself only two years ago, in a similar state, and in much need of some love and attention.

Since Hansel didn't know much about how to look after a kitten, or small animals in general, he went to Gretchen. Gretchen was more than happy to show him how to get the kitten to drink milk from a small bowl, and helped him give the kitten a warm bath. All of the Burg girls cooed over him, and Hansel doubted the kitten could go more than a day with at least one ribbon in its yellow fur.

The girls tried their best to get the kitten to sleep in their room, but he always managed to slip past the door and make his way to Hansel's room where he would curl up contently on Hansel's chest. Gretel would always tease him about, calling the kitten Hansel's baby. He tried to shake his furry companion several times, but eventually gave up and realized it was too much of an effort. Hansel finally accepted his inevitable fate as the kitten's parent when he walked in on the girls arguing about names.

Becca wanted to call him Fritz after her latest beau, Lisa was arguing for Puss, Tilly was in favor of Mittens, Cara's vote was for Schnitzel, and Mia wanted Fluffy. Gretel, who hadn't voiced her opinion yet, pointed out that since the kitten had unofficially adopted Hansel as his father, it was Hansel's right to name him. Not wanting the kitten to end up with Fluffy or Mittens as a name, he relented and agreed with Gretel. He chose what he thought was a nice, strong, name for a cat- Theodore. What Hansel overlooked was the girls' desire for a cute name for the newest Burg, and as a result they shortened the name to Teddy.

Teddy prospered in the Burg household, growing into a fine looking cat with yellow-orange fur, green eyes, and a stripped tail. There was one odd thing about Teddy- he didn't act like much of a cat. He always had his nose to the ground like a bloodhound. Occasionally Teddy would stop, pick up his front leg, straighten out his tail as if he was on a hunt. Teddy would also wag his tail like a dog, and strongly reminded Hansel of the dogs from his days in the Southern Isles. Hansel and the others suspected that some of the behavior might be due to Gertrude acting as a mother to Teddy when Hansel was too busy working in the bakery and couldn't look after Teddy. There were also times it seemed like Teddy understand everything which was said to him, as if he was a human.

Whatever the reason, Teddy was a welcomed addition to the Burg Family Bakery. Just like Hansel had been. Oddities and all.

* * *

Three years and four months had passed since that cold January day when Hansel had first entered the bakery and it was now May.

Hansel was in the back, putting away the week's supplies with Teddy following close behind. Since Jakob had left for the whirlwind adventure he had always wanted, Will, his younger brother had taken over the deliveries. Hansel knew that his visits had less to do with replacing his brother, and more to do with getting a chance to see Becca, who returned his affections.

While Hansel was busy unloading the wagon, Will was busy with Becca in the far corner of the room. It was just kissing, Will wasn't daring enough to do anything more with Becca's father in the other room, but it was starting to get a bit much for Hansel- he didn't even know how they were managing to breathe. Hansel paused, and gave a toss of his head to the duo's direction. Teddy, who was watching dutifully, looked from Hansel to the couple and gave a small nod, before trotting off to the corner to separate the lovesick couple.

Teddy really didn't have to do that much. Simply paw away at Becca's dress until she bothered to look down. He tilted his head to the side and gave out a dismal, "Mew?" Whenever Teddy mewed it sounded more like a question, as if he was really saying, 'What do you think of my cat imitation?'

As dismal as it was, the mewing did the trick and Becca broke away from Will in order to scoop Teddy up in her arms. She saw Will a couple times a week. Teddy, begging her for attention rather than following Hansel and Gretel around was much rarer, and she wasn't going to waste the opportunity to cuddle the cat.

The next time Hansel walked into the room, with a bag of sugar over his shoulder, he did his best to suppress the wide grin on his face. Becca had Teddy sprawled out contently on his back in her arms, and Will was standing off to the side dejectedly while his girl was making cooing noises at a cat.

"Well Will, that was the last of it," said Hansel with a smirk on his face. "Better be heading out, I hear Attila can be quite the grump if he's unable to make his favorite batch of cupcakes each day. Same time next week?"

"Same time next week," grumbled Will. He tried to go in for a kiss on Becca's lips, but only managed her left cheek. Sighing, he realized he couldn't compete with a cat and left the bakery in a gloomy mood.

As soon as Will was out the door, Teddy leaped out of Becca's arms and made his way to Gretel, who was standing by the door which led into the shop. "Mew?" inquired Teddy as he pawed at Gretel's dress, in the same manner he had just did to her sister a few minutes before.

"How long have you been there?" asked Hansel as she knelt down in order to pet Teddy on the hand.

"Not long," she replied. "Just long enough to see Becca to send Will on his way without a goodbye."

Becca came over from her spot in the corner and joined the trio at the door. "I like to keep Will on his toes, can't have him thinking I'm his for keeps. If I didn't, he might not have invited me to the Princess's coronation ball."

Gretel's head snapped up at her sister. "You're going to the ball?" she asked, ignoring Teddy's paw to get her attention back onto him.

Becca nodded, with a dreamy look on her face. "Will's family got invited and since Jakob isn't back yet, I get to go in his place. Papa even managed to agree to buy me a brand new dress," she said, twirling around in a circle, pretending her simple hand me down dress from Gretel was a beautiful new ball gown.

Hansel let out a low whistle in admiration, while Gretel rolled her eyes at her sister's reaction. Leave it to Becca to be more obsessed with a new dress than the fact she was getting to go to the coronation ball.

The current King and Queen of Corona were not deceased, instead they were abdicating the throne in favor of their daughter and her husband. For eighteen years they had thrown themselves into their work as a means to cope with the hole in their hearts, put there by their daughter's absence. Their daughter's return caused them great joy, but also made them realize how much they had missed out as parents. They would never be able to get those precious moments back, but they could cherish their time as grandparents. Little Princess Aurora was surely the first to come in a long line of grandchildren and they wanted to spend every moment possible with her and her future siblings. The additional benefit by passing the throne on through choice rather than death, was that they would be free to help and guide the new king and queen.

Corona was all abuzz regarding the coronation, the last one being nearly three decades ago. The coronation was to be held on the summer solstice next month, and the Burg bakery was already in the planning stages of the month long celebration. The coronation meant hundreds of foreigners would be pouring into the kingdom, all needing fresh baked goods.

"There'll be all sorts of royalty and important dignitaries there," continued Becca. "Will says there'll be representatives from as far away as Maldonia and Arendelle."

Hansel gulped nervously at the mention of Arendelle. He wouldn't even be at the ball, just with Gretel and the other villagers as they celebrated outside in the streets. There was no reason for him to even encounter the representatives from Arendelle let alone be recognized. Without his sideburns, the beard and more muscles he doubted his own brothers would recognize him.

Neither Becca nor Gretel noticed his nerves and Teddy was too busy soaking up their attention to care. "Will says, huh? Sounds like you're sweeter on Will than you let on," responded Gretel.

Becca shrugged and started to play with her braid. "Not like it matters, the only wedding talk Mama will hear of is between you and Hansel and that's not happening anytime soon."

Gretel and Hansel both blushed. Over the past three years Hansel had gotten to know all of the Burg daughters very well, particularly the eldest. He knew that when she smiled, her eyes did as well. Her favorite color was yellow and she had a bit of her sweet tooth. She was extremely fond of flowers- in her hair, flower patterns on her dresses, flowers in the vase that Hansel always kept out in the kitchen. Gretel could care less about the color or type, she just liked the smell and how they reminded her of spring and summer. She was down to earth and full of common sense, just like her mother.

For two years they had been acquaintances, then friends. It was right around the time Teddy came along that they started to grow closer. At first sharing glances, holding hands, stealing a kiss here and there. Hansel had proposed to Anna after barely a day, thinking it was true love. He had of course learned otherwise, with disastrous results. With Gretel he wanted to take it slow, make sure his feelings were real, not just the products of an imaginative and hopeful mind. Gretel, to her credit, understood. She wasn't Becca, flitting from suitor to suitor like a butterfly. Being with Hansel for over a year was the longest she had been courted, and she was aware of his past engagement. Gretel didn't know the exact details, no more than what he had revealed during his first week. Only once had she pressed for more, but stopped once she saw the pain in his eyes.

Hansel and Gretel may have been okay with taking it slow, but the rest of the Burg family wasn't. To them, Hansel was family and a wedding would just make it official. Gretchen was nowhere as overbearing as some of Gretel's aunts, but Gretel had caught her several times gazing into the dress shops and remarking on the latest bridal trends. Hansel had caught Reuben referring to him and Gretel as the future owners of the bakery.

"You're being over-dramatic," said Gretel after a pregnant pause. "How many other boys have you sworn you'd marry, only to drop them like flies a few months later? Now get back to work, the front is almost out pretzels."

Becca rolled her brown eyes at Gretel, but obeyed nonetheless. Gretel then turned around to Hansel. "Since some of us won't be attending the ball and will have to get our own lanterns," she said while looking at Becca, "do you want to come to Lumiere's tomorrow with us? Mama is having me take Lisa, Tilly, Cara and Mia to decorate their lanterns, but I didn't know if you'd like to come along."

Lumiere's Lanterns was one of the many lantern shops in the lantern district. The kingdom only released lanterns a few times a year, but each year the demand grew for those few nights. Many shops had opened in Corona to keep up with the demand for the paper lanterns, offering them in all types of sizes and shapes. The most recent trend was to have different colors, and allow people to customize their own lantern to release into the air. Lumiere's was one of the premiere shops, and it was best to go several weeks in advance to secure lanterns. The owner was from some poor provincial town in France, but had grown up in a remote castle, only to migrate to Corona and set up a shop named for his father. Rumor had it that his father was where he got his love of fire from.

"I'd love to," said Hansel.

Gretel smiled at him; her warm brown eyes did too.

****Author's Note****

Happy New Year! I hope everybody had a great holiday week like I did, which is why it took me so long to post the latest chapter.

Geez, seven reviews for the last chapter. The seven awesome reviewers were CrystallineDragonDemoness, KesialantahapTinggi, GingerGeekGal1796, XXPay4XtraShippingsXX, Wise girl16, Toastyann, and NayaWho. Thank you all, and I hope to hear from you again, along with some new reviewers.

Notes about this chapter:

The first part of this chapter was more about showing time passing and how Hans has changed. It's not something that could happen overnight, and he's still dealing with it every day. Whereas once he had clumped the four youngest Burgs together in his mind and didn't pay them much attention, he now knows each one.

Teddy, the new addition, was another step to helping him be a better person, teaching him about responsibility, helping others, and letting him grow closer to Gretel. Teddy, is also my version of Maximus and Sven- animals who act more like dogs and have the intelligence of humans. For some reason the idea of a cat acting like that greatly amuses me. I don't know if anybody else would find it funny, but I do.

As for Gretel and Hansel's relationship, after the events of Frozen, I think he'd take things rather slow. Making sure it was love, and that he really cared about Gretel. Gretel's smart enough to realize he has his reasons.

Abdication is something that monarchs would do. It was rare, and not entirely of their free will, but it's not unheard of. Given the reasons I listed, I think it makes sense for their characters. They missed out on Rapunzel's childhood, and I doubt they would want to miss out on their grandchildren's. And they'd be around to help Rapunzel and Eugene.

About the Disney references:

I really didn't mean to include all these Disney references when I first started this story, but now I've just embraced it. I was having an issue coming up with a name for Rapunzel's and Eugene's daughter, but thought Aurora was appropriate since it meant 'dawn', and Corona was rather obsessed with the sun. That brought up the issue of Sleeping Beauty who has the same name, so I just made her Rapunzel's great-grandmother. In Tangled Rapunzel was always referred to as the 'lost princess' and it's never clear if Rapunzel was her birth name, or just the name Gothel gave her. I highly doubt Gothel would have been stupid enough to give Rapunzel her real name and real birthday. If somebody ever found her, or if Rapunzel ever found out about the lost princess it wouldn't have taken much to realize Rapunzel's true identity. Also, Rapunzel's story mirrors Sleeping Beauty's a little. I thought it was sort of implied the King and Queen of Corona had issues with conceiving a child, like Sleeping Beauty's parents, and then they had a beautiful daughter who was separated from them as a baby.

Another thing that was never shown in Tangled was where all those lanterns came from. Lantern making has to be some sort of industry in Corona. When I think of candles and fire in Disney, I think of Lumiere. Lumiere's Lanterns is the result of that, and was founded by a son of Lumiere and Fifi, the duster.

A very subtle one was to Attila. He's mentioned in one line, and this is the earliest I could manage to squeeze him in. He was the Pub Thug in Tangled whose cupcakes were 'sublime'. When Josef went to jail, his bakery closed until Attila opened his own shop. Looks like he got his dream after all.

I have several other Disney references planned, so keep an eye out for them.

Next chapter is called, 'Tiptoeing Through the Tulips'. Lumiere's shop is visited, and Gretel trusts Hansel with a secret.


	6. Tiptoeing Through The Tulips

I do not own the rights to anything Disney. Spoilers for Frozen.

**Tiptoeing Through The Tulips**

Lumiere's was located on the side of the village close to the docks, along with the other lantern makers. It was a two story building that was easily recognizable, and distinct from the others in the lantern district due to its French style. There were multiple white pillars and arches along the front of the building, and a balcony on the second floor for patrons to gather for lantern ceremonies. The inside was just as grand, with windows and mirrors everywhere, boxed ceilings, gold leaf trimmings, and cherubs adorning the doorways. It was as if they had stepped into another time, another place. The grandeur reminded Hansel of his family's palace in the Southern Isles, except this place was more warm, more welcoming. The style may have been foreign, but the feel was Coronian.

The decor was expensive, but none of the Burgs nor Hansel felt under-dressed. They weren't wealthy, not like Jakob's family, but they did well enough. There were plenty of fellow villagers milling about dressed similar in style to them. Lumiere's was decorated extravagantly because of the owner's French heritage, not because of the wealth of patrons. The majority of the business Lumiere's did was providing lanterns to the castle and to ships in the harbor. This allowed Pierre, the owner, to charge cheap rates for the villagers to buy and decorate their own lanterns in small rooms.

A pretty blonde greeted Hansel, Gretel, Lisa, Tilly, Cara, Mia, and Teddy- who had slipped in behind, despite Hansel's insistence that he stay outside- at the door. She was wearing a dress that was a bit too tight in certain areas, making Gretel glad that Becca didn't come; she'd no doubt insist on getting one just like it. Hansel meanwhile tried his best to concentrate on her face rather than how the dress showed off the girl's figure.

"Welcome to Lumiere's," she said with a French accent. "My name is Babette. How may I help you?"

Gretel stepped forward, taking charge of, the conversation. "We'd like to purchase and decorate some lanterns for the ceremony next month."

Babette clapped her hands together, excitedly. "Wonderful. We've had a lot of customers today, so it might be a while before a room is free. What's the name?"

"That's okay, we'll wait," replied Gretel. "We're the Burgs."

"Very well," responded Babette, "I'll go and see if any rooms are free."

With Babette gone, Gretel and the others looked around the foyer for a place to sit. Gretel spotted a blue velvet chaise across the room and motioned for the others to follow her. The chaise was long enough to sit the six of them, though not as comfortably as they would have liked. Unfortunately, the other chairs and chaises dotted about the room were full.

Teddy hopped up on Gretel's lap and curled up into a ball for a nap. "I thought you said you left Teddy outside," said Gretel to Hansel, who was on her right, at the end of the chaise.

"So did I," muttered Hansel, holding out a hand to pet Teddy's head. "You're supposed to be outside."

A smug look crossed Teddy's face. He was well aware of where he was supposed to be, but didn't seem to care too much. Gretel had often said he was Hansel's baby. He was over a year old now; perhaps he had grown out of the baby phase, and into the stubborn teenager phase? Was there such a phase for cats?

Before Hansel could spend more time pondering the age stages for a cat, a well-dressed man came over. His dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and his ruffled shirt and jacket matched his trousers.

"Ah, Monsieur and mademoiselles your room is ready. Even Le Maître Chat, is welcome to join," said the man.

"But what about the other people who are waiting?" asked Cara.

"Yeah, and won't the owner mind?" asked Tilly, a couple seconds later.

"'The other people' as you put it, are simply enjoying the atmosphere, and are in no hurry for lanterns," he said, answering Cara's question. "As for the owner not minding, well I'm quite sure he won't." The man bent down closer to Tilly, and said in a conspiratorial tone of voice, "You see mademoiselle, I am the owner."

Tilly, Cara, and Mia let out small gasps at the relevation, while Hansel, Gretel, and Lisa had managed to silently guess the identity of the man. Gretel and her sisters had visited Lumiere's before, but had never met the owner, Pierre, face to face. Until today it seemed.

Pierre chuckled at their reactions. "Now my little Burgs, it's time for you to make your lanterns. My daughter Babette shall show you the way to your room."

* * *

The room wasn't as fancy as the foyer, and was more like the bakery. There was a long wooden table in the middle of the room with eight stools around it. On the far side of the wall were shelves holding all sorts of paper lanterns. Tall, short, cylinders, spheres, rectangular, cubes, fat, short. The majority where the traditional creme color with the sun insignia, but there other colors as well. Colored lanterns were an up and coming trend, as was allowing people to decorate lanterns themselves. Sometimes with pictures, hand prints, or hopes and prayers. Lumiere's encouraged the trend and had a selection of paints and brushes on one of the shelves, along with small bowls full of water.

Hansel, Tilly, Cara, and Mia made a move for some of the colored lanterns, while Gretel and Lisa opted for the more traditional choices. Gretel didn't consider herself very creative or artistically inclined, and Lisa just preferred the simple and familiar design. Teddy climbed on top of one of the stools and watched as the Burgs and Hansel spread out the lanterns and supplies on the table.

Since they were going with the basic lanterns, all Lisa and Gretel had to do was simply pick their lanterns and prop them open, checking for any tears. There were none, which wasn't much of a surprise considering Lumiere's reputation, but they checked just the same. Satisfied with her choice of a sphere, Lisa pulled out a book and began to read. Gretel leaned over to Hansel who was quite intent on his.

"What are you painting?" she asked, leaning over to catch a glimpse.

Hansel shooed her away. "Not yet, it's not ready."

"Somebody's a perfectionist," she muttered under her breath and moved around the table to check on her sisters. Gretel had never pegged Hansel as the sensitive artist type, so that was a bit of a surprise. She had never pegged him as a cat lover either; Hansel was just full of surprises.

Tilly had chosen a purple cylinder, and was busy painting golden lines which weaved in out of each other, creating the image of braids. Cara had a creme sphere before her, but had a small woven basket which she was connecting to the sphere.

Looking up at Gretel's inquisitive face, Cara said, "I read about a new invention from France. It uses the same principle as the lanterns to rise, but is bigger, and can carry people with a basket underneath. I wanted to see if a small scale version would work."

"I'm sure it will," replied Gretel. If anybody could get it to work, it'd be Cara. Gretel then moved on to Mia. Mia had several different lanterns in a rainbow of colors, and several bottles of paint before her.

"I don't know what to do," she said, pouting. "There's just too many choices!"

"Well," began Gretel, "your favorite color is yellow. Why don't you choose a yellow lantern?"

Mia nodded, and Gretel shoved all the non-yellow lanterns to the side. Surveying her final choices, she pointed at the one in the middle. "I like the tall one."

"Alright, the tall one it is then." Gretel then put the other lanterns away, so Mia would have fewer distractions and not second guess herself.

"I still don't know what to paint," said Mia, once Gretel got back and sat down on the stool next to Mia.

"I didn't know what to paint either, that's why I picked one of the traditional ones. You could paint flowers, write something. I could paint your hands if you like," offered Gretel.

Mia's face lit up at the suggestion. "Really? Can you make them purple so they'll match the yellow?"

Painting Mia's hands and helping her place them firmly on the lantern didn't take much time. What did take time was using a rag to wash the paint off of their hands while trying to not get the paint on their clothes. By the time they were finished, the others were done, and Babette was taking inventory of all the supplies they used to give them a total.

She told Gretel the amount, and Gretel handed her the coins to cover the cost. Hansel helped her sisters place the lanterns gently in a box so they wouldn't get crushed or broken on the way home. Pierre placed six small candles in the box to go with the lanterns.

With the lanterns made and paid for, it was time to go home.

* * *

Home, or the Burg Family Bakery was a chaotic mess when they arrived back.

Gretchen and Becca were having an all out war over Becca's dress for the coronation ball. The material, pattern, and accessories Becca had her eye was out of the Burgs' price range, but Becca insisted Will expected her to be dressed like a princess. Gretchen had countered that if he expected her to wear such an outfit, he should be the one to pay for it. Gretel walked in the kitchen just as things were reaching their peak.

"Gretel, tell Mama that I have to be dressed appropriately for the ball!"

"Gretel, tell your sister wanting glass slippers and a poofy, sparkly dress is ridiculous."

Gretel looked from her sister to her mother, trying to figure out what was going. Glass slippers and a poofy dress? She didn't recall seeing anything like that at the dressmaker's shop. Glass slippers just seemed impractical, one could not dance very long in them for fear of breaking them and cutting their feet.

Having an inkling of what was going on, Gretel asked, "Becca, have you been listening to Will's stories again?"

"They're not Will's Stories, they're Jakob's," pointed out Becca. "He had just gotten a letter from Jakob the other day from some kingdom where the princess met her prince at a ball, and wore a magic dress and glass slippers. I didn't say I wanted glass slippers, I said I wanted to be dressed like a _princess_."

"And I said we couldn't afford to dress you like a princess. A merchant's daughter, yes, but not a king's daughter," countered Gretchen.

Fully realizing what the argument was about, Gretel saw a very simple solution, and was a bit surprised her mother hadn't seen it either.

"Mama," said Gretel slyly," Becca says she wants to dress like a princess. There is one you can afford to dress her as..."

"Who?" asked Gretchen, who was exasperated and at her wit's end. She had other more important things to do than argue with her daughter over a dress.

"Why, Corona's very own princess. Princess Rapunzel has always dressed rather simply, and it will be her coronation ball. Perhaps Becca could have a dressed based on one of Rapunzel's?"

Gretchen tapped her chin thoughtfully, considering the idea, while Becca scrunched up her face in concentration.

"I suppose that could work," mused Becca.

"Good, it's settled then. You can take Tilly with you tomorrow and order a dress based on Princess Rapunzel's," said Gretchen, happy the argument was over at last. "Gretel, where are your sisters and Hansel? You just came back from Lumiere's, no?"

"Hansel had an errand to run, and everybody else ran upstairs to unpack their lanterns," explained Gretel.

"Alright, your father should be home soon. He had to go to a meeting for the Baker's Guild," responded Gretchen. Then, on a gentler note, she stepped closer to Gretel and kissed her on the forehead. "What would I do without you, my little Margaret?"

Gretel tried not to wince, her parents used her real name very rarely. She was named for her great-aunt Margaret, who had a rather bad habit of pinching Gretel's cheeks whenever she saw her. Knowing her mother was awaiting a reply, Gretel wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

"Am I interrupting something?" said a gruff voice.

Gretel turned her head and saw her father walking towards them, his arms outstretched intending to make a Gretel sandwich. Closely behind him were her sisters, and Becca reluctantly allowed their mother to pull her in as well. The family spent a few seconds huddled closely together. Gretel was the one who broke it up, squirming out of her's mother hug, mainly due to the fact she was having a difficult time breathing in the Gretel sandwich.

When it was over, the Burgs went their separate ways. Gretchen to take over for Maria, Rueben's sister who had been helping out, in the front. Becca had pulled Tilly aside to talk about the trip to the dressmaker's the next day, Lisa went off to finish her latest book, and Cara and Mia went outside to play before supper. Before Gretel could go out to the front to join her mother, her father pulled her aside.

"Gretel," he said, "I have a favor to ask of you. We need some more Rapunzel, but I'm going to busy with the Guild for the rest of the week. Would you mind going by yourself?"

Gretel hesitated. She knew that she should go get the ingredient, but had never gone by herself, always insisting her father went with her. "Are you sure? Can't it wait?"

"No, I've been putting it off for a while, and at this rate we'll be out for the coronation. Wouldn't want that, eh? If you're so worried, why don't you ask Hansel to join you?"

* * *

Hansel had returned back the Burg bakery after his errand to find Gretel waiting for him. She told him that her father had cleared Hansel's schedule for the next day, and he was to accompany her... somewhere. Gretel didn't really say much, just that it'd be a day long trip and they'd be leaving early in the morning.

There used to be a time when Hansel could sleep in as late as he wanted. Not just because he was a prince, but because he was the thirteenth prince and as such didn't have many duties as his older siblings. He could stay up as late as he wanted partying it up and sleep in as late as he wanted because it wasn't as if he was expected anyway. Hansel could have stayed in bed all day and nobody would have said anything. Though, that probably had less to do with not not having duties and more to do with nobody caring.

That of course changed when he joined the Burgs. He got up at four in the morning each day, relieved himself, got dressed, ate a bagel or muffin left from the day before. When Teddy came along, he added feeding and looking after him to his morning routine.

Of course, three years of his new routine didn't mean that Hansel was a morning person. Gretel wasn't in a talkative mood when either when they set off in the morning. Actually, it was Teddy who was the most active and excited. He had been out and about the village plenty of times, but never over the bridge and into the woods. Along the way, Teddy would stop frequently, his nose to the ground sniffing at unfamiliar scents. As they left the village and entered the woods, he would chase various things- butterflies, leaves, bugs and try to catch them in his mouth.

Hansel had been over the bridge only once, and that was when he was entering Corona. He was starved, exhausted, and freezing at the time, so he didn't really remember much. Though he did know the scenery hadn't been as colorful as it currently was. He never knew so many shades of green existed. The grass was one shade of green, and the leaves on the trees were different shades of green. Then there were the flowers. On either side of the road they walked were a variety of flowers. Hansel could only recognize tulips, daffodils, and roses. Some he recognized as types he had bought for Gretel in the past, but didn't know their names.

He was so caught up taking the view in, he nearly missed when Gretel left the main road and started to go into the woods.

"Mind telling me where we're going?" he asked.

"To get the Rapunzel. It only grows in a certain part of the woods," Gretel answered.

"Rapunzel? What's that?"

"It's the secret ingredient for Burg bread," explained Gretel. "It never had a proper name, and since the day the princess was found was also a day when Papa and I returned with some, that's what he finally decided to call it, in honor of the princess."

As they ventured deeper and deeper into the woods, Hansel had noticed the colors were getting darker. Gone were the brilliant shades of green, and the rainbow of flowers. In fact, Hansel didn't see any flowers, just brown dirt and rotting logs. The trees here were more shades of brown and gray, and looked rather dreary, almost as if it was winter instead of summer.

Their surroundings weren't the only thing to have changed. Gretel seemed nervous, there was an edge to a voice that sounded as if all she wanted to do was run away. Teddy had stopped chasing whatever was flying in front of him, and was peering into their surroundings while on guard.

Gretel eventually and said softly, "We're here."

She knelt to the ground and opened one of the baskets they had brought with them. One was empty for the Rapunzel, the other carried their lunch. Gretel put on some gloves, and began to pick a small, dark green plant. Hansel put on some of his own, and joined her at picking the Rapunzel and putting it in the basket. Teddy watched several yards away. He wasn't fond of the Rapunzel, but wanted to stay within eyesight of the two.

After a few minutes, all the Rapunzel in the small clearing had been picked, except for a trail that led somewhere. Hansel started to follow it, but Gretel pulled him back. "Leave it," she said. "We have enough, and shouldn't pick it all."

Her voice wavered at the last bit, something she did very rarely. If Hansel hadn't been sure that there was something wrong before, he was now.

"Gretel, what's wrong?" he asked.

She looked away at the ground and blushed. "It's nothing," she said shaking her head, "You'd think it's silly."

Hansel lifted her chin so she would meet his gaze. "Let me be the judge of that. That 'nothing' has you spooked, why don't you tell me what it is?"

Gretel took a deep breath in and out, trying to calm herself. "It's just, there's stories about this part of the woods, about a witch... a witch who would eat children."

Hansel sensed there was more to the story and motioned for her to continue. "And what, you were nearly eaten?"

Groaning, Gretel turned away from him. "See, I told you, you'd think it was silly."

"There's nothing silly about nearly being eaten by a witch," said Hansel with a straight-face. There wasn't. Considering what he had experienced in Arendelle, witches eating children were no longer an impossibility.

"I was the one who found this clearing," she said quietly. "There was a voice, and I wandered off from Papa. He found me here, walking in the direction you started to go in. Can we leave now, please?" There was a pleading sound in her voice; Hansel couldn't remember ever hearing her be so desperate.

Hansel nodded. "Of course," he said, picking the baskets up as. "So you mentioned stories about a witch. What type of stories?"

A part of Hansel knew that asking about such a topic that had already upset Gretel was insensitive. At the same time, he was genuinely curious. It wasn't until experiencing magic first-hand in Arendelle did he even start to believe it could really exist. The only magic he had heard about since then was that story of Princess Rapunzel's magical golden hair, which was the reason why she was taken as a baby. If it hadn't been for experiencing magic first hand, and the earnest expressions the younger Burgs as they told about meeting the princess for the first time, Hansel wouldn't have believed it that a girl could go from having seventy feet of golden hair to being a brunette with short hair overnight. So if Corona had more stories about magic, he definitely wanted to hear them.

Gretel, Teddy, and Hansel retreated of the clearing quickly, while she answered Hansel. "That's right, you've probably never heard it since you weren't raised in Corona. If you want I could tell you the tale of the three sisters. Once we get out of here and stop for lunch."

As they rejoined the main road, Hansel noticed color returning back to Gretel's face and to the world around them. She no longer looked so nervous, and was acting more like her regular self. Teddy had returned to his normal playful self, chasing after a squirrel nearby.

Hansel waited till they were far away from the clearing, and saw a meadow of tulips off to the side. "Want to stop here for lunch and a story?"

Gretel didn't even have to answer, her eyes did it for her.

****Author's Note****

I don't think I've ever gotten so many reviews for a single chapter. So I'd like to give a huge thanks to Queen, NayaWho, The Animanga Girl, GingerGeekGal1796, Toastyann, splattermusic, Kage ni kakusa reta Enjeru, watery-silver, KesialanTahapTinggi, Wise girl16, CrystallineDragonDemoness, and Imaginary Cookie for reviewing. You're all awesome, as are everybody who's favorited and followed this story. Please keep it up.

This chapter was supposed to be more about Hansel and Gretel together gathering the Rapunzel, but Lumiere's took up more than I thought it would. Rapunzel is thought to actually be a plant known as corn salad or lamb's lettuce, but given this is a Disney fic I've taken a few liberties.

Since everybody seems to be enjoying the Disney references, I'll keep trying to include them in the story. For those who are curious, Le Maître Chat, is a reference to Puss in Boots, also known as The Master Cat, at least according to Wiki. There was a time when I toyed with the idea of incorporating Teddy as Puss in Boots before realizing I already had enough story lines going on.

Expect a lot of Disney references next chapter, called 'The Tale of the Three Sisters'. It's a chapter I've been looking forward to for a long time and explains the origins of Elsa's powers and the origins of Gothel's relationship with the flower. There's also a slight cameo from a familiar Disney villain.


	7. The Tale of The Three Sisters

I do not own the rights to Disney. Contains spoilers for Frozen.

**The Tale of The Three Sisters**

There were once were three sisters who lived in a far away kingdom. Their parents died, leaving them penniless and so they set out to find their fortune. After several days traveling on the road, they came across a beggar. She was tall and thin, like a scarecrow, but that was the only thing the sisters could make out about her. She wore long black gloves, and a large cloak concealing her face.

Despite carrying a large heavy sack, she approached them from the road and asked for some food. The two eldest sisters refused, citing they barely had enough food for themselves. The youngest sister gave the beggar some of her food, though she didn't have much. Seeing their sister's selfless act, the others sisters managed to scrounge up some food to spare as well.

The beggar traveled with the sisters, until they stopped to make camp for the night. Huddled around the campfire, the eldest sister asked the beggar what was in the sack. The beggar told them it contained something very rare, very precious, and very magical and she could say no more. The sisters pestered the beggar, but she would not give in. Eventually the fire died down, and it was time for them to go to sleep.

The eldest said she would stay awake and be on the looking for any ruffians or thugs who happened upon the group and wished to take advantage of the young women. She waited until the others were asleep and coaxed the sack out from under the sleeping beggar's hand. Looking inside, she found a an old piece of rolled up parchment. Gently she unrolled it, and gasped softly. On the paper was a glowing picture of a flower. The light the page emitted was just enough to read the text beneath the picture. According to which, the flower had special healing powers and could keep a person young, forever. There were two ways to access the flower's powers- to consume it, which would mean to use it only once, or to sing a special song giving the singer unlimited uses.

The sister was quite a bit older than her siblings, and would have been married long ago if she didn't have her two sisters to raise. Their mother had died young, and their father worked long hours in the fields while his eldest looked after her younger sisters. She loved them, but she was starting to grow old. No man would want her with her wrinkles and grey in her hair. The flower was her chance to be young and desirable forever.

She scanned the text for some clue as to the location of the flower, and was surprised to learn it wasn't very far away, just up a nearby cliff. The sister had grown up on tales of fairies and magic, but had never encountered it before. Given the magically glowing page before her, the flower just had to be real. She had a couple hours before her middle sister woke up to take over for the rest of the night, plenty of time find the flower and to see if the song worked.

The cliff was rocky and scraggly, but she managed to climb up it just fine. The glow from the page gave her the light to find the flower. She sang the song that was written on the parchment, and the flower started to glow. Its power flowed through her and she felt younger and stronger than she had in years. The sister knew that she would want to use the flower again and again, so taking it with her wasn't an option. Her only choice was to stay somewhere close to the flower.

Satisfied with her decision, she made her way back to her sleeping sisters and the strange beggar. She thought about waking them and telling them about her discovery, but what if the flower wouldn't work on more than one person at a time? What if her sisters got greedy and ate it, never letting her experience its healing powers again? Or what if they told others, others who would take it for themselves?

No, she had to keep the flower a secret, she had to protect it. Her sisters were still young and attractive enough to find themselves husbands, they didn't need the flower. They didn't need her looking out for them anymore either. It was time for them to grow up. The sister threw the parchment into the smoldering fire and watched it burn up. She had the song memorized, and if the beggar really knew what she had, she wouldn't be ashamed of hiding her face or hands. The flower could make anymore beautiful and heal all wounds. Why would one to cover themselves if they were free from age and disease?

She woke her middle sister for the next watch, and settled down to get a few hours of sleep despite her pounding heart, excited by her discovery.

The middle sister was just as curious as her older one, and sneaked a peek into the sack. Unlike her sister, when she reached in she pulled out a book. A book which contained instructions for spells and potions. They all looked rather complicated and involved complex ingredients. Newts eye, dragon heartstring, pixie wings. The ingredients made her shiver, but there was one spell that got her attention and she wouldn't mind getting her hands messy for.

Her sister feared age, and she feared death. She had watched their mother die giving birth to the youngest. She had watched their father die when one of the horses had gotten spooked and trampled him. Death was messy and disgusting. When it was over, one was nothing but a hunk of meat. She didn't want be a hunk of meat at the end, she never wanted to die. That was something the book offered, a way to avoid death forever. According to the book she'd still be susceptible to aging, but as long as she followed through with the spell every few years she could avoid death forever.

The spell called for a few grisly ingredients, namely the body of a young child or adult with plenty of meat on their bones and life in their bodies. Her sisters would blanch at the the thought of murder, it was she who gotten her hands dirty on the farm killing chickens and other animals for dinner. It was she who dealt with the bodies and cooked their remains into a fine meal. Her sisters hadn't seen death like she had and just wouldn't understand.

The beggar didn't need the book, not like she did. The sister placed rocks in the bag to make up for the missing weight of the book. She planned to leave first thing in the morning, she would need to find someplace remote to pull off the spell without suspicion. Some place where she could have a large oven to cook the young bodies. Hiding the book among her few possessions she waited for her sisters and the beggar to wake up. The sooner they did so, the sooner she could start her new life.

When morning came, the youngest sister knew something was amiss. Her older sisters were never fond of mornings, yet this one they were the first ones awake. Her oldest seemed to look different, younger in fact. When she asked about it, her older sister told her to stop being so silly, she was just imagining things. Her middle sister was too self-absorbed with her bag to notice or care. The beggar was silent on the matter.

So they went off, and eventually came to a fork in the road. Her older sisters said they were going to part ways and wished her the best of luck, each taking a different path away from her and leaving her alone with the beggar.

The beggar turned to her and said, "I'm afraid I must part ways with you as well. Before I go, I shall give you a gift from my bag in return for your generosity. Your sisters were rewarded last night while you were sleeping, that is why they were so eager to leave this morning."

She reached into her bag and pulled out a mirror, handing it to the youngest sister. It had a wooden frame which had figures carved along it, and the mirror's surface was cool to the touch. Before the youngest could say anything, the beggar disappeared in a puff of green smoke, leaving no doubt in the girl's mind she had been secretly an enchantress or fairy all along. The sister looked down at the mirror in her hand. She'd much rather have the beggar for company than a silly mirror.

While her older sisters were afraid of age and death, the youngest was afraid of being alone. She didn't know her mother, and barely knew her father since he was always working. Her sisters were her whole world, but she knew they wanted to leave and have their own lives. She just didn't know it was going to be so soon.

Her reflection seemed to mock her in the glass, showing just herself all alone. All alone and by herself in the world. A single tear dropped onto the glass and the sister threw the mirror as hard as she could against a nearby tree. The mirror shattered into hundreds of pieces everywhere. One shard managed to pierce her eye.

The sister knew she should have been dead, but she wasn't. She just felt cold inside. It occurred to her that because the mirror belonged to an enchantress or a fairy, it was possibly enchanted as well. She was proven correct when the shards on the ground turned into sharp icicles on what was a spring day. Her hands started to create ice without any guidance from her.

She fled north, north into the mountains and caves as it became clear she had no control over her new ice and snow powers. For a brief time she tried to find the enchantress for help, but had no luck. All she left was devastation and cold in her wake.

Once she had been so afraid of being alone. Now she was more afraid of the harm she could do to others, and being alone was the only way she could protect people from her.

One winter's day when she was out hunting for food she found something else instead. A young man all alone in the woods. He was dressed rather well, so a noble of some sort. Looking at the tracks around him she realized he had been thrown from his horse. She could feel a chill to the air, that a storm was coming and knew the strange man wouldn't be able to survive the storm. Fearing to touch him with her bare hands she pulled off his gloves and used them as a layer of protection.

It took a while, but she eventually succeeded in dragging him back to her cave where he could recover and survive the storm that had started to rage outside. When he awoke, she explained that she had found him. He was rather insistent on returning home, but after taking one step outside into the storm which had turned into a blizzard, he stayed.

Over the next few days the blizzard howled outside and they grew closer. She learned that he was a prince and he offered to take her back to his kingdom. As much as she wanted to be with him, she knew she couldn't. If she hurt him accidentally, she didn't know how she could live with that knowledge. When the blizzard was over he left.

He didn't forget her though. He made sure she had supplies and food to survive on. He'd leave her letters and notes in the woods for her to find, and he would visit her in his free time. He had even let her keep the gloves. She welcomed the visits and was grateful for everything, but she still refused to leave with him.

Winter turned into spring, followed by summer. As the seasons changed, his visits got fewer and fewer. A great drought had struck the land, and he was doing his best to help his people as much as possible. At first she thought he had stopped caring and had given up on her. Then she saw the yellow grass, sickly trees, and thin animals and realized what was happening. With her powers, she never had to worry about running out of water. But seeing the land around her dry and dying caused her to be concerned. If this was happening here, what was life like in his kingdom?

Gathering her courage, she ventured out of her cave and toward his kingdom. He had described the journey numerous times and had even left her a map if she ever decided to leave. Along the way she saw the conditions of the fields. If there wasn't rain soon the crops would wither and die. There would be no food for the winter and people would starve- if they didn't die of thirst first. All the creeks, rivers, and lakes which were usually full of water were almost dried up.

The palace where the prince lived was on an island, connected by a bridge to the mainland. The water was so low, she doubted a bridge was necessary. When she found the prince he was so tired looking, but seemed to cheer up by her mere presence. There was gray in his hair, and he looked so much older than when she had last seen him. He explained the stress he was under, and how he didn't know how the kingdom could survive much longer.

While the sister knew her powers could hurt her love, she knew he would be hurt even worse if she didn't use them. She took off her gloves, and let her powers go to work. She created snow that fell onto the fields. Large blocks of ice that melted in the heat and restored the water that had been lost. He was by her side all the while, never once showing a hint of fear of her powers. The more she loved him, the more the fear melted inside her, and the more control she gained of her powers.

By fall, the drought was over. The crops, while not as good in years past, was enough to get the people through the winter. The prince and his kingdom were grateful to the youngest sister for saving them all.

The prince and the youngest sister married and lived happily ever after. With him by her side, she'd never be alone again.

* * *

When Gretel was done with the story, Hansel took a few minutes to think it over. It sounded like a typical fairy tale. Once upon a time, girl meets boy with magic mixed in, and they live happily ever after blah blah blah.

Yet, it wasn't a typical fairy tale. The story about the glowing flower that could heal was one that he, and everybody in Corona knew. It was the reason their princess went missing for so many years after the queen had eaten it as a last resort to heal herself. Nobody knew much about the Gothel person who had taken her, but given the eldest sister's role in the story and her fear of aging, Hansel didn't have a hard time believing it was her. You would have to have a serious fear of something to go as far as kidnapping a princess, a crime punishable by death.

Then there was the youngest sister part, with the ice powers. That definitely sounded familiar. If the story was true, it would certainly have explained events in Arendelle three years ago. As far as he knew, nobody had really offered up an explanation for Elsa's magic, just that she had it ever since she was born and had spent most of her life hiding it. Of course, it wasn't like she had spent much time with him talking about her powers. The majority of his information pertaining to the Snow Queen had been picked up by eavesdropping on the guards on his way back to the Southern Isles for his judgement, or from Will and Jakob whenever they felt like showing off their knowledge and connections. Sometimes not the most reliable sources.

"Gretel," asked Hansel, "the middle sister, is she the witch in the woods?"

Gretel, who had been sneaking pieces of her ham and cheese sandwich to Teddy, looked up. Teddy was quite distressed at the development and started to paw at her hand in an attempt to free the small piece trapped in her grasp. Gretel didn't pay him any heed, instead she frowned, not sure of what she was going to say next.

"The part of the woods we were in, most people avoid. They say that's where the middle sister built her house and lures travelers on the road to, never to be seen again. For the longest time it was just stories, but when the lost princess was found and the story of the oldest sister turned out to be true..."

Her voice trailed off, but Hansel managed to figure out the rest of the sentence. "The witch in the woods seemed a lot more real."

Gretel nodded. "I suppose that's why my father never took my younger sisters into the woods to get the Rapunzel, and probably why he suggested you coming with me today."

There was a somber look on Gretel's face, which caused an uneasiness in Hansel's stomach. He found that he didn't like it when she was scared or upset. First in the woods earlier today, and now, talking about the witch in the woods. He had never felt like this before, and felt like it was his duty to return a smile to her face.

An idea came to him, and he grabbed the bit of sandwich out of her hand that Teddy had been pawing at. Hansel threw it as far as he could, and Teddy ran after it so enthusiastically he overshot the landing site and rolled into a creek. Teddy emerged from the river and shook himself off, causing water to go everywhere and his fur to stick out in all directions. The scene caused Gretel to giggle, but Teddy ignored her since he had finally found the sandwich bit Hansel had thrown. He brought it back to the two, who were seated on a picnic blanket, triumphantly. He curled into a ball away from the two to eat it, lest Hansel or Gretel get any ideas about taking it away from him.

Gretel continued to laugh at Teddy, and Hansel joined in. He was glad he had managed to banish all thoughts of the witch from her mind. For a while at least.

* * *

While Hansel was correct in assuming there was some truth to the story, there were some details he didn't know. That wasn't his fault, for Gretel and none of the Coronians knew them either.

What he didn't know was that the beggar had been watching the sisters for a while before deciding to approach them. She wasn't actually a beggar, as the younger sister correctly suspected. She was actually a powerful fairy. A fairy who had spent her earlier years being ostracized for looking different from her peers, called evil and a monster. It wasn't her fault her early spells had a tendency to go awry. By the time she had her magic under control, it was too late and the damage had been done. Mainly thanks to three certain sister fairies.

What Hansel didn't know, was because she had been isolated for so long, she had eventually decided to give in and become the monster others had always assumed her to be. She took pleasure in causing others misery, and bringing out their own wickedness. By causing others pain, she could forget her own. Until she was too numb to it, and only knew the thrill of causing havoc and chaos everywhere.

What Hansel didn't know, was that the three sisters reminded her of specific trio of fairies, and had set out to close them in a trap. If they refused her food, she could reveal herself in curse them. If they did help her, she could take advantage of their greed, causing them to take certain items that would fulfill their own selfish desires and cause their own demises, she hadn't figured out that love would help the youngest sister control her powers, but that wasn't the original purpose of the mirror. The mirror was supposed to bring out a person's inner coldness, have them see only the worst in people.

What Hansel didn't know, was the three fairy sisters the evil fairy loathed found out about the tale and the youngest sister's happy ending due to the power of love. They spread the tale far and wide, though it continued being told in Corona far longer than anywhere else- for that was where the youngest sister ended up as queen. While it had been nearly forgotten, the discovery of the eldest sister and her role in the lost princess's disappearance caused many of the younger generations begging their elders for the tale.

What Hansel didn't know, was that Elsa truly was descended from the youngest sister- on both sides of her family. The children of the youngest sister had been carriers of the ice trait, and if two carriers had a child, there was a slight chance the child would have the ice powers. After many generations, Elsa's and Anna's parents were distant cousins who had married, as royalty does. It just so happened their first child inherited her ancestor's powers.

What Hansel didn't know, was that due to a green-skinned fairy's antics at christenings and on strangers, Arendelle and the surrounding lands had a slight fear of magic and sorcery. When it became apparent to the King and Queen that their eldest daughter, and the heir apparent, had magic, they did their best to hide it from their subjects. The fewer who knew the better- the less who knew the less likely she would be shunned by society and her subjects. Then there was the incident with their youngest, and the need to control the magic became the priority. The king had grown up hearing the story of the three sisters from his grandmother, but couldn't remember the details. Just a small part about gloves preventing the sister from injuring the prince.

What Hansel didn't know, was that he, Gretel, and Teddy had been watched from afar from all day. The figure hadn't eaten a proper meal in years, due to increased precautions of travelers and parents. There used to be a time when she could lure a weary traveler off the roadway, or a bored child away from its parents without anybody noticing. In recent years, people had begun to remember the tales their grandparents had told them, and approached the woods with more caution. They avoided her house made of delicious gingerbread and other sweets, while surrounded by the flower Rapunzel to keep the animals away. She still had a few more weeks before she needed a nice succulent piece of youth to sustain her and keep death at bay for a few more years. With the coronation a month away, she could wait though.

What Hansel didn't know, was that the witch was pretty confident that those who had escaped her oven once she set eyes on them always came back to her in the end.

Always.

****Author's Note****

I'd like to thank KesialanTahapTinggi, GingerGeekGal1796, Banci Taman Lawang, watery-silver, ItsHalley, CrystallineDragonDemoness, Wise girl16, and Alley Cat Sunflower for reviewing last chapter. You're all amazing as always. Reading reviews is one of my favorite parts of writing, and I appreciate them all, along with all the favorites and alerts.

This chapter is the halfway point for the story and I've been waiting to write it for a while. Not just to explain how Elsa got her powers, but to explain why her parents weren't that freaked out by the fact their daughter had been born with magic while everybody at the ball _was_. It seemed to me the king wasn't that surprised Elsa was born with powers, he and the queen never questioned the trolls about her magic, and Elsa never seemed to question its origins either. Yet, at the ball, the Duke of Weselton and others seemed scandalized by Elsa's display. My best guess was there had been tales about magic in the family, but it hadn't shown up for a very long time. Meanwhile, too many people over the years had faced the wrath of Maleficent or other magic wielders, and had become afraid of it.

I hope you enjoy all the Disney references, including the cameo from Maleficent. I always knew I wanted to include her in this chapter. Screwing with people by offering them a gift only to have it backfire on them is something she'd do for pure enjoyment. It also allowed me to explore a little of her background, including her relationship with the three fairies from Sleeping Beauty who raised Aurora/Briar Rose- Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather.

Next chapter is called, 'At Last I See the Light'. It's coronation day and Hansel has some rather important plans involving Gretel. Just as it seems like everything's going perfectly, he encounters a few hiccups.


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